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BIOGRAPHY 



OF 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES; 



CONTAINING THE LIFE OF 



BRIGADIER GEN. WILLIAM BARTON, 



AND ALSO, OF 



CAPTAIN STEPHEN OLNEY 



" Thy spirit, Independence, let me share ; 

Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye : 
Thy footsteps follow with my bosom bare, 

Nor heed the storms that howl along- the sky." 



BY MRS. WILLIAMS, 

AUTHOR OK " RELIGION AT HOME," " ARISTOCRACY," " TALES, NATIONAJ 
AND REVOLUTIONARY," &C. &C^^^„,,-^-r- 



PROVIDENCE : 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

NEW-YORK : WILEY & PUTNAM. ALBANY : OLIVER STEELE. 
WASHINGTON CITY : STATIONERS' HALL, 

1839 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839. by 

Catharine R. Williams, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Rhode-Island. 



CONTENTS. 



LIFE OF GEN. WILLIAM BARTON. 
CHAPTER I. 

Birth-place of General William Barton, tendency of natural scene 
ry and childish sports in the formation of character. His appren- 
ticeship, marriage, &c. Commencement of the Revolutionarj' 
War. His departure for Roxbury. Return to his family. Station 
at Newport, subsequently, at Tiverton. Anecdotes of his residence 
there. Kindness to the families removing from the Island. Hard- 
ships of those who remained. Forlorn appearance of the Island, 
and tyranny of Prescott. Plot laid by Barton, to capture him. 
Choice of companions, in that enterprize. Departure for Bristol. 
Delays. Subsequent departure for Warwick Neck. 

CHAPTER II. 

Precautions on leaving, for R. I. British shipping in the Harbor. 
Their signal of alarm. Description of the quarters of General 
Prescott. Peril of reaching him. Success of the onterprize. 
Safe return to Warwick Neck, and to Providence. Prescott sent 
off to be exchanged for General Lee. Cruelty of the enemy to 
their prisoners, in Newport. Letter from Dr. Center, the Hospital 
Surgeon, Horrible situation of the sick. Exasperation of the 
public mind. Vain attempt to procure an exchange. Predatory 
excursions of the enemy in the Bay. Alarms at Providence. 
Sword voted by Congress, to General Barton. Plot to bring off the 
British treasure from Newport. Its failure. Description of the 
Treasure House. Anecdotes of Earl Stanhope. 

CHAPTER III. 

Commission from Congress of Brevet Colonel. Sufferings of the 
poor families from Newport, 1778. Desertions from the British 
camp. Anecdote of two officers from the Lark frigate. Attack 
upon Fall River. Attack upon Bristol. Letter from Earl Percy, 
afterwards Duke of Northumberland, to Governor Bradford. De- 
struction of the shipping at Kickemuet. Firing of Warren. Pur- 
suit of Barton, wounded at Bristol, 28th May, 1778. Long illness 
of General Barton. Alarm at Providence. Bombastic description 
of battles, &c. of the British press. Their circulation of incendi- 
ary handbills, and panic proclamations. Colonel Barton obtains 
1* 



VI CONTENTS. 

icsLVe to have a few vessels lo protect the Bay. Ineffectual af 
tempt of Colonel Barton to obtain the release of John Viol. His 
long imprisonment, anecdotes of his life. Temper of General Bar- 
ton, habitual cheerfulness, anecdotes. Close of the war. Purchase 
of township in Vermont, difficulties with the contested claim. Bar- 
ton's resolution never to pay it. His detention in Caledonia 
County, Vt. fourteen years upon a civil process. Obstinacy respect- 
ing its liquidation. Visit of Lafayette to this Country, his libera- 
tion of General Barton, and the veteran's return to his family. 
Gradual decline in health. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Remarks of the Editor on the life and character of General Bar. 
ton. Anecdotes illustrative of his habitual temperament. Refuta- 
tion of the charge of egotism. His aversion to titles, aristocracy, 
&,c. &c. Exemption from avarice. Defence of the General from 
the charge of vindictiveness. Letters found among his papers, from 
Henry Laurens, John Knox &c. Letters of General Barton in an- 
swer, &c. Description of the person of General Barton, his pecul- 
iarities, simplicity of speech, want of caution towards his enemies, 
frankness, &c. Sec. His last illnes, and peaceful departure fron* 
this world. Appendix to the story. Notes occupying 43 pages. 



LIFE OF CAPTAIN STEPHEN OLNEi'. 

CHAPTER I.— Page 145. 
Captain Olney's parentage. Effect of Puritanism, in preparing 
the way for a Republican Government. Appointment to an Office 
in the Company. Delay of the Rhode-Island regiment in obtain- 
ing their commissions. Termination of the difficulty. 

CHAPTER II.— Page 156. 

Departure of the brigade for Roxbury. Situation in the battle 
of Bunker Hill. Evacuation of Boston. Ordered to New-York, 
Station on Long-Island. Brooklyn Heights. Reading the Declar- 
ation of Independence. 

CHAPTER III.— Page 165. 
Captain Olney's reflections on a dream. Singular want of vigi- 
lance on the part of the American commanders. Fatal security. 
Account of the battle of Long-Island. Disastrous termination. 
Captain Olney's bravery in the field, Washington's grief. La 
hient for the dead. 

CHAPTER IV.— Page 175. 
Terrible storm. Retreat from Rhode-Island to Nev.-.York. 
Treacherous attempt of the enemy at negotiation. Baffled by the 
American commissioners. Council of war, and evacuation of New- 
York, which was taken possession of by the enemy immediately 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Great fire there. Cruelty of the British. Skirmishes. Surrender 
of Fort Washington. Colonel Magaw. Proclamation of the two 
Howes. March through the Jerseys. Capture of Lee. 

CHAPTER v.— Page 188. 

Exchange of commanders. Battle of Trenton, Anecdotes of 
Col. Jeremiah Olney. Princeton. Trying position of the army. 
Council of war. Boldness of Washington's plan. Battle of Prince- 
ton. Death of General Mercer. Captain Olney saves the life of 
Monroe, afterwards President of the United States. Col. Jeremiah 
Olney. Col. Lippitt. Narrow escape near Brunswick. Goes 
home on a furlough. 

CHAPTER VI.— Page 203. 

Visit at home. Innoculation at Coventry. Success of Wash- 
ington in his absence. Atrocities of the British and Hessians. 
Excites indignation in Europe. Ultimate benefit of the American 
cause. Courtland Manor. Captain Olney's return to his regi- 
ment. W^ashington. Singular expression of his countenance. 
Successes of Arnold. Wooster. Col. Huntington. Col. Meigs. 
Departure from Peekskill. Stratagems of the enemy to force 
Washmgton to a pitched battle. Gallant action of 700 American 
riflemen near Woodbridge. Fears for Philadelphia and Albany. 
Manoeuvers in the river. British troops disembark at the head of 
the Elk, August 25th, 1777. Battle of Brandywine. Anecdotes. 
Pulaski, and other distinguished foreigners. Unfortunate termina- 
tion of the battle. Activity of Gen. Greene. 

CHAPTER Vll.— Page 217. 

English pillage Wilmington, and take the Governor prisoner. 
Manoeuver of the enemy. Congress adjourn to Lancaster, and 
Cornwallis enters Philadelphia. Battle of Germantown. Attack 
on Red Bank and Fort Mifflin. Anecdote of Gen. Smith. 

CHAPTER VIIL— Page 228. 

Attack on Fort Mifflin renewed on the 15th of November. Hot 
action. Abandonment of the forts by the Americans, after bravely 
beating off the enemy twice. Winter at Valley Forge. 

CHAPTER IX.— Page 236. 

Base conspiracy against Washington. His imraoveability. In 
March two companies slaughtered in cold blood by the enemy at 
the bridges of Quintin and Hancock, after their surrender. Baron 
Steuben. Arrival of despatches from France. Great rejoicing. 
Manoeuvers of the enemy to outwit France. 

CHAPTER X.— Page 242. 
Captain Olney's return, after leave of absence. Battle of Mon- 
mouth. His apology for Lee. Extreme heat. 



VIU CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER XL— Page 249. 
D'Estaing at Sandy Hook. At Rhode-Island. Captain Olney 
in Sullivan's expedition. Battle of Springfield. Captain Olney 
wounded. Difficulty of procuring quarters. At Bearskin Ridge 
10 months. Commissioners from England. M. Gerard. 

CHAPTER XII.— Page 257. 
Destruction of Wyoming. The French frightened at its atrocity. 
Slight review of the events of 1780. Winter quarters. Consolida- 
tion of the Rhode-Island regiment. Death of Colonel Christopher 
Greene. Major Flagg killed in his bed. Captain Olney marches 
for Virginia with Lafayette. Counter orders. Furlough. Meet- 
ing in the army. Craft of the enemy. Hanging of the spies. 

CHAPTER XIIL— Page 263, 
Barbarities of the enemy in Charleston. General Greene in the 
south. Execution of Haync. Anecdote of Arnold. Departure of 
Rawdon. Marchings of Cornwallis. Lafayette. Entrenchment 
of the enemy at Yorktown. Manoeuver of Washington to blind 
them. Count D'Rochambeau marches to the Hudson. Situation 
of the encampment at York. Count D'Barras. Skirmish between 
the British and French fleets. York invested by 20,000 men. 
Fleet. Situation of the allies. Battleground. Storming the re- 
doubt, and surrender of the enemy. Captain Olney wounded. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Captain Olney throws up his commission, and retires to private 
life. Aifection of his townsmen. Civil offices. Difficulties of 
obtaining a pension. Letters to Hon. Tristam Burges and Dutee 
J. Pearce. Success. Sickness and death. Character. Appen- 
dix. Notes. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 

Frescoti between Colonel Barton and Lieutenant Wilcox, on tk? 
shore. — There are two inaccuracies in the Plate : one, the stream 
which empties into the bay, has here the appearance of a large 
river ; but is only a brook. And the house and barn, on the right, 
are not on the shore, or near it, but in reality, only about 400 or 500 
feet from the Overing place, which is seen indistinctly, in the dis- 
tance. The Engraver's imagination has supplied a moon, too, but 
General Barton says, " there was no moon, but a star-light night," 



PREFACE. 

There is no species of writing so difficult as biography, 
and in an especial manner when it chances to be of some 
'public character. To draw upon one's imagination, if the 
writer is gifted with any, is comparatively a work of little 
difficulty ; but where one is pinned down to stubborn facts, 
facts in the memory of men too, where the least devia- 
tion, the most trifling irregularity, even the mistake of a 
date, would subject one to be torn to pieces by the critics, 
is an affiiir of no small labor and anxiety. 

In the present instance we are called to write on a theme 
of infinite interest, to all our countrymen certainly, but one 
so hacknied that it is almost impossible to say any thing 
new on the subject. The history of every old soldier in the 
Revolution, is in fact but a repetition of the Revolution it- 
self Wherever they took the trouble to keep a memoran- 
flum of the events of their lives it would be impossible to 
,'uve it in such a way as to make it understood without 
much repetition. To write such a biography thfen, in a way 
to make it interesting to the public, is an effi^rt of no ordi- 
nary magnitude. To add to the difficulties of such a work, 
there are two classes of readers to please. One class is 
excessively offended if there is any thing in the story that 
sounds like romance, forgetful that truth is truth, let it be 
clothed in what language it may. They take offence if 
any thing like sentiment, or we had like to have said, 
refinement, is to be found in the whole book, and cavil at 
every sentence which is not confirmed by the pages of his- 
tory, or attested to upon oath. 

Again, there is another class of readers directly opposite 
in taste and judgment, who are continually fretting because 
there is not more of ornament. " What signifies," say they, 
" to confine one's self like a log-book, to the plain, straight- 
forward, downright occurrences of every-day life, if the 
narrative is only interesting, whose business is it whether 



10 PREFACE. 

all of it is true ? We want to be entertained ; we do n't ! 
want a simple detail of the events of the war ; we have 
read them over a thousand times, (they always say as ■ 
many as that,) and we want something new, some wonder- 
ful adventures, some hair-breadth escapes, something that 
will make a man's hair rise on his head to read, or throw 
him into convulsions of laughter." Even on this, readers 
are divided. One says, " if the story is not witty, 1 shall 
not like it ;" another, " I hope it will be serious ; if a book 
can 't draw tears from one, there is no interest in it ;" and i 
another, " if there is nothing to terrify in it, it cannot be 
worth reading." The writer of these sheets has no recol- 
lection of having been so tormented at any time, while pre- 
paring a work for the press, by repeated and most earnest 
requests, first, " that it may have no romance about it," and 
again, " that it may be all romance," or what is equivalent i 
to it, that it may be such a mixture that it will be impossi- 
ble to tell the one from the other. Amidst all these con- 
tending opinions, we have endeavored to make sure off 
pleasing one, viz. ourselves. We conceive that a narrative 
of this sort should be strictly true, and we have been at i 
very great trouble to collect all the facts which we deem 
it proper to insert. Many very interesting things in the ] 
hves of these persons, doubtless have never come to the • 
knowledge of the writer, and of the anecdotes related here, 
some of them have been handed down by tradition, some 
are from the manuscript, some collected from their otlier 
papers, and some narrated by their families and friends. 
We consider these as proof sufficient. Those who were 
cotemporary and intimate with them, remenaber their ex- 
pression of feeling on different occasions. 

To those who feel it wearisome to read the histories of 
our revolutionary soldiers, we can only apply the mournful 
consolation that there will be few more to read. They and 
their cotemporaries are almost extinct, and with that gene- 
ration, a race of men shall have passed from the stage, the 
like of whom we shall never see again, nor can future ages. 
Luxury and dissipation has done its work, in our once happy 
country. Never again will the simplicity and singleness 
of heart, the abstemiousness and self-denial, the self-devo- 
tion, integrity and uprightness, and the pure, unmingled, dis- 



PREFACE. 11 

interested fire of patriotism, be found in any other race of 
men, in an equal degree. There may be individuals, and 
are, who rising superior to the corruptions of the age, equal 
some of revolutionary memory, but it is preposterous ever 
to expect there can be such another whole race, in the 
first place, circumstances can never again conspire to such 
formation of character. Let us, or the tyrants of Europe, 
be as persecuting as they will, there is not another unex- 
plored quarter of the globe to which pilgrim feet can tra- 
vel. This is Liberty's last liome, and if it cease to be her 
home, she has no home on earth. 

Happy for us that the question of Independence was agi- 
tated at so early a period of our history, the present race, 
it is to be t'eared, never would have achieved it. Wealth 
and influence have become of such importance in the eyes 
of by far the greater part of our population, that all other 
things, we fear, would become subservient to it ; self-ag- 
grandizement is now the great object. The aristocracy of 
wealth is riding over the heads of the community at a high 
rate, and but for the salutary laws by which our brave fore- 
fathers have guarded the tree of liberty, we should be in 
danger of a worse bondage than that from which we have 
escaped ; but heaven be praised, that their efforts were not 
confined to the mere action of fighting, else had their blood 
been shed in vain. The salutary laws, by which wealth is 
made to change masters so often, will preserve us from all 
danger on that head. The possession of wealth, too, seems 
to generate such a spirit of extravagance — the lordling of 
to-day generally becoming the bankrupt of to-morrow, as 
absolutely to be a safeguard against its encroachments. All 
ruinous as it is to families, there is this good effect attending 
it ; for was the immense wealth of individuals handed down 
from sire to son, the danger of the State would be infinitely 
greater. But to return. 

To us there is not a more interesting being than one of 
those old patriots of the revolution; whether soldier or states- 
man, the danger to themselves at the commencement of the 
contest was nearly equal. When I see one of those vene- 
rable men, bending under the weight of years, and often of 
infirmities contracted during the exposure of their persons to 
the hardships of war, the tears will involuntarily force them- 



12 PREFACE. 

selves into my eyes, while I recall in imagination the days 
and nights of wearisomeness and watching for our country's i 
weal ; the cold, and hunger, and nakedness, of our afflict- 
ed army during that trying period, that made us a nation, 
the enduring courage that not only faced the cannon's mouth, 
but the far greater danger of imprisonment in those loath- 
some and pestilential dungeons, that proved the grave of so 
many brave Americans, my emotions are almost overwhelm. 

In enumerating the incidents of the revolution as connect- 
ed with the history of our State, or the narratives of our he- 
roes, we confess we have presented in a striking point of 
view, the various cruelties practiced by our political enemies 
during the revolution. It has been said to the writer of this, 
"say as little as possible on that head ; it is unchristian to 
dwell upon the faults of our enemies, and especially of a 
gallant nation, with whom we are now at peace," and 
whose sins of that day are doubtless long since repented of; 
besides, that was comparatively a dark age, christian na- 
tions do not conduct the art of war now as they did then. 
In answer to such suggestions, we must say, we shall take 
the liberty to use our own judgment ; the advice we have al- 
ways remarked comes from a questionable source. It has 
in general come from those whose sentiments we know to 
be anti-republican, who have always been admirers of Brit- 
ish institutions, and in fact, of a despotic form of government, 
and who often complain that "our own wants energy.'* 
There are exceptions, persons who really are so christian 
as to hear with pain even the faults of an enemy exposed, 
and who really believe what they assert, that were the 
thing to be tried again, we should receive very different 
treatment from the hands of our enemies. To such we 
say, we want evidence. Has the slaughter and burning 
of St. Eustache, St. Bernoit, and St. Dennis, proved it ? has 
the hangings and banishments, and confiscations in the 
Canadas proved it ? We say not, nor are we disposed to at- 
tribute the cruelties perpetrating in that region of horrors 
to the insubordination of British troops. We know it is not 
the case, we know there is not a nation in Europe where 
the troops are in such complete subordination, as those of the 
English. That England was, and is, a christian nation, is 



PREFACE. 13 

an aggravation, a naonstrous one of her guilt. Let us think 
tor a moment, of the officers of an army who profess the 
reHgion of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving up a conquered 
city to pillage and rapine ; of men going to the table of 
the Lord, sanctioning crimes at which the very heathen 
would blush ; of ministers and others in authorit}'-, sanc- 
tioning the conduct of such officers ; and of a King, or per- 
chance a Virgin Queen, upholding them ; of a woman, aye, 
and a christian one, too, quietly looking on, and beholding 
the wives and daughters of her subjects exposed to the in- 
sults of her brutal soldiery, because the fathers, or brothers, 
or husbands, sigh for that liberty which God has made all 
men to enjoy, since he has made them " free and equal." 
That there are exceptions, that there are individuals of that 
and of other despotic nations, who recoil at the idea of such 
cruelties and monstrous crimes as were once sanctioned in 
our country, and now are in Canada, we doubt not, but 
alas ! their solitary aid would nought avail against the arm 
of power. 

The writer of this was recently favored with the perusal 
of a paragraph in a letter from a British officer in Lower 
Canada to his wife now residing in the United States. We 
dared not ask to copy it, but according to the best of our 
recollection it ran thus : 

" Come not here ! Scenes are enacting in this country 
that no female ought to witness. There is a sickness at 
heart that almost unmans me, when I think of the cruelties 
practiced here, which I am not only obliged to witness, but 
to be almost a partaker in ; that is, obliged to permit my 
men to commit the most horrible crimes, because I dare not 
countermand the orders of my superiors. Happy the lot of 
those unfortunate, though rebellious subjects, who fall by the 
sword. They cannot live to know that their fireside com- 
• forts are for ever destroyed. 

You have doubtless heard of the massacre at St. Eu- 
stache, but the particulars, I venture to say, have never yet 
been told, in that happy land where you sojourn." 1 recol- 
lect something was said about throwing up his commission, 
but have forgotten what, but as the beautiful and interest, 
ing young English woman is still in this country, I conclude 
he has not done so. 



14 PREFACE. 

These are ungrateful subjects, and we hasten to contem- 
l»late the blessings which the exertions of our brave fore- 
fathers procured. 

Is there a being insensible of the happiness we derive as 
a people, from our present form of government ? We may 
differ in opinion with respect to the merits of rulers, and on 
minor points of government, but can we cast a glance over 
our favored land and not exult at the name of American ? 
Does not our hearts leap within us while we contrast our 
situation with that of the subjects of despotic governments? 
All monarchies are more or less so. All the comforts of 
life are within our reach, and indeed to the industrious and 
persevering, most of its elegancies. There are no persons 
poor in these United States, but those who choose to be so. 
Of the suffering poor (if any such are to be found) nine 
tenths are made so by intemperance, and the remainder by 
idleness and wilful improvidence. Labor in our country is 
so high, that if a man worked only half his time, he might 
manage to lay up something. And of those who are re- 
duced by sickness and become objects of charity, not one 
in ten but what might have provided against such calamity 
by prudent management while in health. It is really mat- 
ter of curious speculation to think what would be the change 
and how it would be borne, if our country were suddenly 
to be brought under a government like that of Great Brit- 
ain. How would the mechanics, farmers, and laboring 
classes feel to have the price of labor suddenly reduced to 
less than one third of what it is now, and half of that third 
10 be paid out for taxes upon every thing we could name ; 
to have a tenth part of one's produce to pay tythes to sup- 
port a church, though perhaps the very best one that hu- 
man wisdom ever devised, or that human experience knows 
any thing about, yet different from the belief of two thirds 
of the community, and then worse than all, to see the< 
would-le-nobilitij suddenly become such in reality — him 
who now but struts his hour upon the stage, exalted to lord 
It over vassals and dependants, not only through life, but 
down to remote generations through his descendants. Pow- 
ers of mercy ! How some of our purse-proud merchants, 
and corporation men, and insolent, aristocratic and domi- 
neering lawyers would look with the star and garter ! If 



PREFACE. 15 

the ungartered leg scarcely deigns to touch the earth now, 
we may well suppose the gartered one would tread on 
necks. We just make out to^bear with men who have to 
condesend now to coax people into quarrels, or whose busi- 
ness obliges them to spend part of their time behind a coun- 
ter. But it is, as we observed, a curious speculation, how 
certain persons would appear were tliat necessity removed. 

Dreadful has been the struggle to avoid such a slate of 
things. The great foundation has been successfully laid, 
and though the warfare is never to cease, though like that 
between the flesh and the spirit it will endure throughout all 
time ; yet honored, yea, forever blessed be the memory of 
those who laid it broad and deep, and laid it in their blood. 
I pity those who never felt the glow of patriotism, who can 
stand upon the battle field, where our brave forefathers con- 
tended for liberty, and not feel his bosom thrill with intense 
and irrepressible emotion. Spirits of the martyred dead, 
of those who fell in our country's cause! I have realized 
your .presence in those places, as much as I ever did that 
of my most familiar friend; I have seen your venerable 
shades move in the rustling trees, and heard your voices in 
the vv'tispering winds. Often " when evening has poured 
her Suudows o'er the plain," I have walked forth, to enjoy 
YO!ir society. From Bunker's Hill to Ticonderoga, and 
f: m thence to Virginia, I have traced your footsteps. Not a 
lake, or a river, but what has spoken of your prowess. Not 
a town, or scarcely a village, but what has something to tell 
of you. From the source of the mighty Hudson, to the 
mouth of the Chesapeake, every thing has reminded us of 
you. Your country is your monument. 

It is surprising with how much indifference some people 
can view the places connected with Revolutionary history ; 
but there are instances in which even children are moved. 
I recollect the first time 1 visited Philadelphia, in walking 
up Chestnut-street, a little lad of only seven years of age, 
pointed out to me the State-House, from the balcony of 
which, Jefferson read the Declaration of Independence ; and, 
said the little fellow, while his eyes sparkled with anima- 
tion, " The very bell, too, is there, which struck the first 
note for Liberty /" What a remark for such a child. 

It was late when I returned, and my little guide was not 



16 PREFACE. 

with me ; but I could not forbear to look into the house, 
which, though now soHtary, stood most invitingly open. I 
looked into the room where the immortal signers of the De- 
claration of Independence set their seal to that instrument. 
It was untenanted, and I ventured in. Its spacious vaulted 
roof, and the antique fashion of the heavy moulding, spoke 
of ancient times. The last rays of an intensely hot sun 
yet lingered on the crimson curtains and reflected a mellow 
light upon the walls, and upon the long table, where the 
purest, the best, the noblest, and most patriotic company of 
men the world ever saw, had sat on that momentous occa- 
sion. With a heart swelling with unutterable emotion, I 
stood until the last gleam of day was withdrawn, the shades 
of twilight were gathering around ; and it was then, that in 
imagination, the shades of the departed patriots passed in 
review before me. It was but a dim and shadowy outline, 
and although I could not paint it like Joel Barlow, I enjoyed 
the " vision of Columbus.''^ Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, 
Hancock, and the whole host of worthies were there. A 
full length statue of Washington, exalted on a pedestal, 
graces the head of the table, his elbow resting on a book of 
laws ; the roll of the Constitution in his hand, and tran^.p- 
ling under foot the Charter of the Colony. The portraits 
of William Penn and Lafayette adorn the walls, wh^re it 
is contemplated to add the six Presidents. My delightful 
visions were at length disturbed by the entrance of a vene- 
rable looking person, who has the care of the house. He 
seemed somewhat surprised to find a lady standing t'lero 
alone, but quite delighted with the interest expressed in the 
scene. The house was, evidently, his idol ; and he was 
pleased to communicate every thing connected with it. I 
promised to call again and see the bell, which was engrav- 
en with a text, or motto, from the 25th of Leviticus, 10th 
verse. ^^Prodaim Liberty throughout all the land.^^ 

We trust these ebulitions of feeling, which to many may 
appear like digression, will be pardoned. We trust, that 
though luxury and effeminacy have done much to banish 
simplicity, it has not so effectually hardened the heart and 
dulled the senses, that patriotic feeling is utterly contemned. 
We know that, though from courtesy, persons have been 
tolerated in decrying our government, and speaking evil of 



PREFACE. 17 

the institutions of liberty, and in some instances have even 
dared to abuse the {3rivilege of addressing their fellow-citi- 
zens on the birth-day of our independence — to do this, with- 
out being put out of the house ; yet they have been visited 
by deserved contempt, and that no man dared raise his voice 
to apologise for them. 

We know it has been quite fashionable among many of 
the lords of creation, to ridicule every thing like patriotic 
feeling among women, except at certain seasons, when their 
services were needed ; and we consider it as one of the rem- 
nants of barbarism, that knowledge, education, and refine- 
ment, have not yet entirely done away. But at the sea- 
son of the Revolution, and during our last war, it was found 
very convenient, not only to refrain from ridiculing, but even 
to laud and admire it ; but at all other times they have been 
dubbed as " meddlers with subjects al)ove their comprehen- 
sion ;" " petticoated politicians," with a host of other ill- 
mannerly appellations. For ourselves, we recollect that 
some of our earliest impressions of this sort, were communi- 
cated by females, cotemporary with the heroes of the revo- 
lution ; and we have at this moment, a very distinct recol- 
lection when a little child, of becoming deeply interested to 
inquire into the history of our Independence, from the con- 
versation of an old lady of that period. The circumstance 
that occasioned it, was from my inquiring of her " what the 
bells were all tolling for." (It was on the reception of the 
news of the decapitation of Louis XVI.) She was weep- 
ing ; but I recollect she took the handkercliief from her face 
and drawing me tov/ards her, held m}^ little hands in liers, 
while she answered solemnly — 

"My dear, it is for the death of the King of France." 
" And who" said I, looking up with childish wonder, " who 
was the King of France ?" She replied, while the big tears 
stole quietly down her cheeks, " Fle was one of America's 
best friends. Fle supplied us with money, when v/e needed 
it, sent us food and raiment and all other conveniences we 
were suffering for, and men to fight our battles. He became 
our friend when we had no other ; a friend in need, and now 
wicked men have cut his head off." And here her tears 
redoubled. I remember 1 left her, and went to look into 
the street to see if the men were crying, but to mv surprise, 
2* 



18 PREFACE. 

not one appeared different from their usual manner. I saw 
several females that day and all appeared more or less af- 
fected. And though I did not exactly comprehend the ser- 
vices of the French monarch, yet from that time I conceiv- 
ed the highest respect for the feelings and opinions of women 
on those subjects, and imbibed a feehng of interest in the 
history of my country, which has never left me from that 
hour to this. And should the revolutionary tales which 
from time to time have been before the public, afford half 
the pleasure in the perusal, they have done in the composi- 
tion, the writer of these will have nothing more to ask for. 
Aside from the interruptions, there has been no higher gra- 
tification, than when stealing from the world, she has been 
permitted to trace the history of the departed champions of 
American Independence. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 



It has often been a question, where the first active opposition to 
the encroachments of the British Government was offered. We be- 
lieve the question may now be fairly settled, and that honor award- 
ed to Newport, R. I. The first act of popular resistance to the ar- 
bitrary conduct of the officers of that government, it appears, v/as ii! 
that town. It was in the destruction of an armed British sloop, 
called the Liberty, which had been fitted out in Boston to enforce 
the revenue laws, and was directed to examine and detain all ves- 
sels suspected of violating them. It was caused by the sloop firing 
upon a Captain Packwood, of Connecticut, who in resentment for 
the liberties taken in searching his brig, had left there without per- 
inission. Great discontent had been felt previous, at the arbitrary 
and overbearing deportment of the officers ; and the populace had 
got to the right temperament to seize the first occasion that present, 
ed to chastise their insolence- Accordingly, hav^ing assembled a 
large company on the Long wharf, where the sloop of war lay, they 
deiBanded the man who fired at Captain Packwood. The officers 
of the sloop made a feint of looking for him, but contrived not to 
find the right one ; and probably fearing a scene of violence, the 
whole company, except one mate, abandoned the sloop and came on 
shore. The populace then went on board, cut her cables, and she 
drifted over to a wharf on the Point. Here she was again boarded, 
her masts cut away, and all her armament and stores of war thrown 
overboard ; they then scuttled lier, and left her to the mercy of the 
waves. They subsequently set fire to her, and taking her boats, 
dragged them through the streets to the Parade, where they set fire 
to them. Tradition says, " that owing to the keels of the boats be- 
ing shod witli iron, a stream of fire followed them as they were 
dragged over the pavement with violence." This, in the year 1769 
(if we except the general spirit of insubordination manifested at the 
act passed in September, 1764, to tax the Colonies, and the famous 
stamp act trod close upon its heels,) was the first. 

A very general impression on the minds of persons who have ne- 
ver read that act, seems to be, that it was a small addition to the 
price of paper for deeds, bonds, wills, and a few more conveyances, 
such as one generally calls upon a lawyer to write ; and we recoL 
lect heaving the question propounded more than once — What great 
evil could there be in having to buy a peculiar kind of paper a little 
more costly to execute an instrument on, which was rarely wanted 
and must be recorded, and therefore, not improperly bearing some 
stamp upon it ? Having never read the act ourselves, we were un- 
able to give the particulars, but since having perused it, we are not 
at a loss to discover the cause of the burning indignation manifest- 
ed by all classes of people. It almost surpasses belief, that the Brit- 



20 INTRODUCTORY REMi 

ish Governinent could have believed it. poffeible for any class of men 
to eubmit to ; to think of giving a duly ;>pon every thing, the small- 
est piece of paper for even receipts andflotes of hand ; the price ris- 
ing in proportion to the sum specified. Thus, for a piece of paper 
for securing a sum of money between fO and £fiO, one shilling ; be- 
tween 20 and £30, one shilling and sixpence, and so on. For a li- 
cense to sell spirituous liquors, lhe;>apor cost ten shillings, and for 
retailing wine a stamp paper costiJ4 ; that was " in case they did 
not take out a license for selling spirituous liquors," thus punishing 
the venders of v/ine, liecause they did not sell rum. Conscience ! 
Not only that it would have taken the half of every man's substance, 
a person vv^ho did much business ^vould have to keep running all the 
time, unless he laid in a cargo of these papers. It seems, however, 
that they were never used in the Colonies, and in general not per- 
mitted to land. An advertisement for a nev/spaper must be stamp- 
ed, and cost two shillings. This act, as well it might be, was the 
cause, and doubtless, cause sufficient, had no other existed, for a^ 
dismemberment of the Colonies. No person of even ordinary intel- 
lect, but what saw in this, tlic beginning of a contest, destined only 
to end in the utter separation of the Colonies from the parent gov- 
ernment. 

From this time, though the odious stamp act was shortly repeal- 
ed, the affections of the people were alienated, and each subsequent 
motion watched witli jealousy. The duty upon tea, so highly re- 
sented some years after, was only three cents upon a pound ; but 
knowing it was going to form a precedent for greater exactions and 
oppressions, was, as every one knows, resisted with a degree of vio- 
lence that set the whole country in a flame, and was the immediate 
precursor of the Revolution. The destruction of the sloop Liberty 
in Newport made no other alteration except in the management of 
the thing. The revenue laws still continued to be enforced with 
much severity, but the conduct of the officers was more guarded. 
They still adhered to the right of search, but dared not put it in 
practice, until about three years after, in June 1772, one Lieutenant 
Duddington was stationed in Narraganset Bay, in a tender called 
the Gaspee, for the enforcement of the revenue laws, (which of 
themselves, by the way, were exceedingly oppressive,) seemed dis- 
posed to exercise his authority with a high hand. There were oth- 
ers then in the harbor of Newport, who had commenced the old 
method of compelling every vessel to round to, and suffer an uni- 
\'ersal overhauling, or in case of refusal, they had ventured in several 
instances to send a few shot after them, not to do much damage to 
be sure, but just to show their authority. 

On the 10th of June, the commander of the Gaspee, Vv-ho had for 
some days past boarded, searched, and otherwise insulted several 
outward and homeward bound vessels, attacked a sloop called the 
Hannah, a Providence and New-York packet, commanded by one 
Lindsey, of Providence, ordering her to "come to." The pack- 
et, however, took no notice, but kept straight on her course up- 
Narraganset Bay. Lieutenant Duddington then called out, and or- 
dered her to take down her colors in passing (that is, to lower thenr- 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 21 

to the Royal standard,) still the sloop kept on, when the Gaspet- 
fired on her and gave chacc. Captain Lindsey, whose light eraft. 
could run much nearer the shore, managed to decoy the tender, 
until they had, in following the sloop, run upon a point, about five 
miles from Providence, called Nanquit Point, where they were 
fairly aground. Captain Lindsey made all sail then lor Provi- 
dence, and reported the affair. Great indignation was expressed 
on the occasion, and it being suggested by some spirited individuals 
in the town that it would be easy to board and burn her, where she 
then was, they forthwith proceeded to drum up for volunteers, lit- 
erally, for they employed a man by the name of Price to go about 
street with a drum inviting all good citizens to meet at a place 

named , to concert measures for surprising the Gaspee. In 

the evening, about 54 persons collected, and, calling themselves 
Narraganset Indians, proceeded to the place where tha unfortunate 
Gaspee still lay aground, where tiiey boarded her, wounding the 
commander and putting the men on shore. They then set fire tn 
the vessel and burnt her up. The Point has since been called Gas- 
pee Point. Of the 54 said to be engaged in that affair only one is 
now living, viz. Col. Ephraim Bowen. John Brown, a merchant 
of Providence, acted as a kind of leader, calling himself the Sheriff 
of Kent. They generally had some title by which they designated 
each other. The names of those brave and resolute citizens, as far 
as they have come to our knowledge, are as follov.-s : 

Captain Benjamin Dunn, John Brown, 

Captain Benjamin Page, Com. Abraham Whipple, 

Captain Turpin Smith, Colonel Ephraim Bowen, 

Captain John B. Hopkins, Dr. John Mawney, 

Joseph Bucklin, Captain Harris, 

Captain Shepard. Joseph Jencks. 

There were but about fifleen men in the Gaspee, but when the 
boats came along side of her, they pretended to make some show of 
resistance, but Duddington being wounded at the first onset, they 
immediately desisted. The commander was carried below, and Dr. 
John Mawney and Col. Ephraim Bowen went down and dressed his 
wounds, after which they put him in a boat and sent him after his 
men ashore at Pawtuxet. He was received into the house of a Mr. 
Rhodes, and permitted to send to one of the ships off Newport, for 
his physician, who attended him vseveral days before his removal. 
A bolder project, and more harmlessly executed, wc believe has sel- 
dom been hazarded. 

From this time, the frequent discontents in the seaports were fol- 
lowed up by similar tumults. The destruction of the tea in the har- 
bor of Boston, occurred next year after the Gaspee affair, viz. 1773. 
The beginning of 1774 was signalized by the spirited resolutions of 
the different ports. Newport was one of the first, who, in town- 
meeting, passed resolutions to refrain from the use of tea, and to op- 
pose its sale in the Colony. 

Early in the month of June, 1775, tliere was a very serious dis. 
turbance in the town of Newport. A vast assemblage of the inhab- 



22 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

itants of the town collected in consequence of a report that a quars 
lity of fiour was to be shipped to Halifax, to victual the Britislj' 
fiect. The flour was procured by George Doane, a very warm par- 
tizan of the government. It was at the time the squadron, under 
the command of Wallace, lay off the harbor, and doubtless that was 
the intention. 

The people collected around the granary in groat numbers, and 
seeing a large number of drays collected to carry it to Doane's store, 
which was on the Point ; it was found impossible, however, to car- 
ry it, as the excited populace knocked it off as fast as they could 
load it, staving in the heads of the barrels. Finally, they succeed- 
ed in stopping it. Three companies had just been raised in Newport 
to send to Roxbury, viz. Captains Topham's, Tew's, and Flagg's, 
Two of these had marched on, but Capt. Tew's had not yet gone ; 
and they turned out to aid the people, and proceeded to the Point, 
to tlic residence of George Doane. One Jabez Champlin was the 
High SheritF of the county of Newport, and he very prudently 
begged the military to keep back in the lanes running east and 
west, unless they should be called for, so that the nmrincs, who 
were already landed to carry off the flour, might not see them, and 
blood be shed ; and if they appeared in front, they would immedi- 
ately be shot. The marines v/ere stationed on the wharf and in the 
yard of Doane's house, and the high sheriff rode up to Doane's steps 
and commenced a parley with him, and after some earnest and pas- 
sionate conversation, Doane told him he was willing to deliver up 
the flour into the hands of any suitable gentleman in town. Upon 
this, out steps Wallace on the steps with his sword drawn, and flour- 
ishing it round several times over the sheriff's head, and then point- 
ing it up in the air, exclaimed, " I defy the town." Among others 
who were very wroth on the occasion, was one Capt. John Grimes, 
the same who afterwards commanded a galley out of Newport, and 
.subsequently, one of 26 guns, out of Boston, called the Minerva. 
His house was close by, and he ran home in great haste, and brought 
out his gun, and powder horn, and bullets, to shoot Wallace ; but 
the people near him prevented, and carried the day without a resort 
to arms ; the British gave up the point, and the flour was all car- 
ried into the granary and- replaced, and a military guard set over it, 
until such times as *hey could get it off. It was then carried to 
Roxbury to our army, under a strong military guard. The man 
who commanded that guard is now living, Issachar Cozzens, by 
name ; recently he vras living with his son at West Point. The 
flour was in reality the property of Doane, he having purchased it 
previously, on purpose to send to liahfax. He was a violent tory, 
and went off; his property was afterwards confiscated. 

In fact, there waa a vast many tories in Rhode-Island, particular- 
ly on the Island, at the commencement of the troubles : and about 
six months before Newport was taken by the British, Gen. Wash- 
ington despatched General Lee to Newport, to overhaul suspected 
persons, and either compel them to take the oath of allegiance to>- 
the Congress, or be brought prisoners to Roxbury. General Lee, 
attended by his Aid, Mr. . of Newport, and one hundred Vir~ 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 23 

^inia riflemen, rode into the town just at dark of a very raijiy night, 
and witliout stopping scarce a moment for refreshment, proceeded 
to hunt up the suspected inlia! itants, summoning them before him 
to take the oath. The young man, his aid, proceeded on tiiis im- 
portant office, and among others the two gentlemen in whose em- 
ploy he had been previous to the outbreat. These persons, William 
and Joseph Wanton, obliged to rise and go before the General, at 
the command of their former clerk, hesitated for some momciits to 
put their hands to the very severe oath which Gen. Lee had written 
down, and required them to sign, but he told them and the others, 
that " it was a matter of perfect indifference with him ; if they did 
not, he should immediately order them under arrest, and take them 
on to Roxbury." The Episcopal clergyman, Mr. Bissel, in partic- 
'alar, hung back, and asked the General if he really meant to ad- 
minister the oath to him in the unqualified sense it was v/ritten in, 
and if he would not alter it in his case. General Lee said he v/ould 
alter it ; he then sat down and wrote a new one more binding than 
the other, and compelled the reluctant clergyman to sign it, or 
take the alternative of going to Roxbury. It is solemn to reflect 
that these persons all forswore themselves, and afterwards gave 
all the aid in their power to the enemy, onl}^ venturing to show 
themselves in their true colors, after the British had landed at 
Newport. 

An old gentleman now living in Rhode-Island, narrated this 
scene to the writer, and says he still remembers the gallant bearing 
of the General and company of Virginia riflemen, as they passed 
through the Island on their way back to Roxbury next morning in 
martial array, and remembers his own expressions of admiration, 
and the sneer of the person to whom he made the remark, a Mr. Red- 
wood, a tory, as it proved after, " that they were onl}^ a co'.npantj 
of their convicts sent over to Virginia." 

Upon the British coming to the Island this gentleman, who ov.-ned 
a team, was pressed into their service, and compelled to work for 
them at $2 per day. He relates the craft made use of, in the man- 
agement of the receipts, by his British employers. They would not 
allow the laborers to specify the sum in the receipt, thus giving 
them the opportunity of charging their Government with a much 
larger sum. Upon the retreat of Sullivan's brigade, numbers es- 
capcd with them from the island, this man for one; he was that day 
employed with his team, and, said he, " upon driving my team up 
to the side of the hill where I had to go, I made out to escape, and 
have never heard from it, from that day to this." 

Upon the arrival of the news of the burning of the Gaspce in 
England, three Commissioners were sent by the 13ritish government 
to investigate the business, and make proclamation of reward for 
the persons of those who burnt it. They had the lower room in the 
Court-House in Newport opened, where the elections were held, 
and with great state and solemnity paraded themselves on the high 
seat, overshadowed by tremendous great wigs. The proclamation 
was to any who could give information of the persons concerned, 
ox leading to the detection of persons concerned in the burning of 



"24 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

the Gaspee. This was done for three days in succession, but the 
proclamation and the wigs failed to frighten any one into giving 
information. The same solemn farce was then acted over in Prov- 
idence, with the same success. The reward offered was £ 1000 for 
the Sheriff of Kent, the name by which John Brown was called ; 
£ 1000 for the leaders, and £ 500 for " any of all the clan." 

We would remark that in all the accounts we have seen, of the 
destruction of the Gaspee, it has been asserted that the company, 
or a part of them, were disguised as Narraganset Indians. This 
was not the case. They were not disguised in the least. They 
merely called themselves Narraganset Indians. They took care 
however not to call each other by name. In fact there was very 
little talking done. They did not go down in the boats until after 
dark, and having accomplished their business, took them and re- 
turned.. 



LIFE OF GEN. BARTON. 



William Barton was born in Warren, a beau- 
tiful little village standing at the head of a small 
inlet or cove, on the east side of Naraganset Bay, 
in the county of Bristol, Rhode-Island, and about 
ten miles from Providence. It is on the post road 
from that place to Newport, and distant about 
twenty miles. 

It has been observed by more than one writer 
whose acquaintance with human nature was un- 
disputed, that the formation of character was 
much owing to the kind of scenery by which we 
are surrounded in our early days, and every day's 
observation tends to establish the truth of the re- 
mark. But however this in a measure may be 
and doubtless is the case, there is something still 
more omnipotent in the early formation of charac- 
ter than this, and that is, the sports of childhood, 
and the companions who participate in them. 
The future soldier, and the immortal capturer of 
Prescott, it is true, drew his first breath in a small 
village, on the sea side, where images of peace 
and serenity, sights and sounds of rural happiness 
met his view. A more romantic and picturesque 
place is seldom seen. The village itself is singu- 
larly beautiful, and then the tongue of land oppo- 
site, which runs far out into the Bay, and covered 
as it is with prettv farms, neat srardens and cot- 
3 



20 I^Jf'E OF GENERAL BARTON. 

tages, and beyond — " the sea I the sea ! the wide 
unbounded sea, with its blue above and blue be- 
low" — take it altogether, afibrds a most charming- 
prospect, but then never did quiet scenery boast 
of a more expert, daring, hair-brained, and mad-cap 
set of boys, than this same pretty village. Its 
contiguity to the sea aflbrded means of constant 
enterprise and peril, and was a continued tempta- 
tion to acts of daring and hazardous experiment, 
and bred a familiarity with danger, which proved 
a bane to the happiness of many a careful father 
and anxious mother. For ages, the lads of War- 
ren and Bristol have been celebrated for their ad- 
venturous spirit, and a very large proportion of 
the best sailors in the State have been raised in 
those two towns, particularly in the former. It is 
no uncommon thing to see boys that we should 
scarcely think able to manage a boat in pleasant 
weather, scouring the coast for many miles around 
in the most boisterous seasons, and with as much 
apparent concern as we should feel sitting at our 
parlour fires. Not that accidents have not hap- 
pened by which many of them have found a watrey 
grave ; but they have never operated to intimi- 
date the survivors. 

Of the two long strait streets which form the 
principal part of the village, the one broad and 
handsome, with a profusion of cherry trees, on 
the direct route to Newport, is the principal, but 
not the favorite resort of the juvenile heroes of 
the place. The low and sunken one called Water 
street, and bordered by the wharves, where the 
scanty shipping lay, here and there a mast, an old 
scow, or a small sail boat, had many more charms 
for them ; and it was among these that young 
Barton first became acquainted with danger. To 
steer the frail bark across the bay in a starless 
night, or hold the tiller when the waves ran moun- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 27 

tains hig-h, was doubtless as high a gratification to 
him, as it would be to one of the lilliputian dandies 
of this day, to find himself at the head of the ball 
room. Our fathers, then, for the most part, would 
have looked with scorn upon the puerile and ef- 
feminate sports of their degenerate descendants. 

General Barton was born on the 26th of May, 
1748, and was the son of Benjamin Barton, of 
Warren, an honest and respectable man. He con- 
tinued with his parents, enjoying the advantages of 
a common school education, until of a sisitableage 
to be bound out to a trade, a part of education 
deemed almost indispensable in those days of 
blessed simplicity, when honest industry was no 
disgrace, and people considered it a higher honor 
to be known to labor in some useful employment, 
than to live upon other people's property, or sub- 
sist — no body knows how. 

' fter serving his time, William set up for him- 
seli. and carried on the hatter's business in a shop 
of his own. He married early in life a daughter 
of Joseph Carver, of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 
being only twenty-two when he was united to 
Rhoda Carver, who was two years younger than 
himself. Their oldest child, William, was born on 
the 18th of December, 1771 ; and their second, 
Benjamin, on the 20th of July, 1773. 

In the enjoyment of domestic happiness, good 
business, and comfortable circumstances, almost 
any one might be supposed to be contented, and 
it is certain a selfish man might be so, but William 
Barton was not such. He loved his ftunily, but 
he loved his country also, and the oppressions of 
the mother country, which was daily creating dis- 
sension and disquiet in the country, did not occur 
without occasioning unpleasant feelings in his 
bosom. He had long been a listener and specta- 
tor, with feelings of deep resentment, although 



28 i-IFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

reg-ard for his family at first prevented his ming- 
ling" in the fray. In common with the other in- 
habitants of Providence, he continued to be agi- 
tated by the continual rumors and alarms which 
were daily coming from Boston, the then seat of 
war, without deciding to take a part in the con- 
test ; and it was not until after the battle of Bun- 
ker-Hill, that he decided on joining the American 
forces. On the day on which that memorable 
battle was fought, great consternation prevailed 
in Providence. The inhabitants were apprised of 
a battle somewhere ; and fearing that if a general 
engagement took place, and the Americans should 
be routed or taken prisoners, the next step of the 
enemy would be to attack Providence, had as- 
sembled in large numbers on Prospect Hill, as in 
has since been called, where the guns could be 
heard. The scenes which there took place can 
be more easily imagined than described. 

Various rumors were afloat, and many and con- 
tradictory reports circulated next day, but at 
length an official despatch from the acting com- 
mander announced the termination of the battle 
and its disastrous results, with the death of the 
brave Warren; and others, who fell during that 
memorable contest. The news was communi- 
cated to Mr. Barton, while at work in his hatter's 
shop. He took no time to deliberate, bat slung 
his musket on his shoulder, mounted his horse, 
and took the road to Boston, where he offered 
himself as a volunteer, and entered the service. 

The action of Breed's or Bunker Hill, was fought 
on the 17th of June, 1775, consequently General 
Barton joined the forces of the American army 
about the 19th. It was not until the 17th of the 
ensuing March, 1776, that the British evacuated 
Boston. During the intervening nine months the 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 29 

service in that quarter was, as is known, most ar- 
duous. 

On the 20th of December, 1775, a third son was 
born to General Barton, whom he called George 
Washing-ton. At this time he advertised his in- 
tention of joining" the army and of devoting him- 
self to his country, and that his business would in 
future be conducted by Mr. Lathrop. He entered 
as a corporal, and by a rapid but regular advance- 
ment was soon promoted to the rank of captain. 

It was while on this service, working at throw- 
ing up redoubts under the very guns ol" the ene- 
my, intercepting foraging parties, and lighting in 
the various skirmishes with detachments of Brit- 
ish soldiers, that x\Ir. Barton obtained his knowl- 
edge of military tactics. His opportunity to be- 
come acquainted, not only with danger, but with 
military discipline, was better than it could have 
been in any other part of the country, for Wash- 
ington was there in person, assisted by Generals 
Lee and Ward. He did not indeed arrive until 
after General Barton had joined the forces then 
under command of General Putnam. But he came 
a few days after, and immediately commenced a 
reform in that division of the army. He found 
them without discipline, destitute of cleanliness, 
and miserably deficient in arms and ammunition, 
without order, coming and going, just as occasion 
suited. To rectify sll these disorders was an ar- 
duous task ; nevertheless they set themselves 
about it, and it was accomplished. At Roxbury 
and Boston, while on this service. General Barton 
became acquainted with many choice and patri- 
otic spirits, with whom he ever afterwards kept 
up an intimacy. The grandfather of the writer 
of this narrative, captain Oliver Read, was one, 
and memory supplies several interestina- anecdotes 
3* 



30 LIS^JE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

related by him of the General, some of which are 
narrated in the life of that brave captain, in the 
first volume of " Tales, National and Revolution- 
ary." 

While General Barton was at Boston, troubles 
began to multiply nearer home. The vessels at- 
tached to the squadron of Wallace, which block- 
aded the harbor of Newport, though they as yet 
made no regular descent upon the town, yet kept 
them in a continual state of excitement and alarm. 
Threatening messages were daily sent in, such as 
'' that the town would be burnt at such an hour 
next day," and the like ; and this was not all. 
Their predatory excursions in Narraganset Bay, 
and the cruelty and rapacity with which they con- 
ducted in their foraging parties, was most aggra- 
vating and vexatious. 

On August 1st, they came up opposite Bristol, 
and sent in an enormous demand for a supply of 
provisions. This being refused by the inhabit- 
ants, they commenced firing on the town. The 
peaceable and unarmed inhabitants were in no 
state to resist them, and finding they were likely 
to have their town destroyed, before help could 
be raised from the interior, purchased their safety 
by sending them 40 sheep. This was agreed on 
by a flag of truce. Nevertheless, they continued 
to lay off their harbour and occasionally harass 
them 24 hours after. 

On the 9th of December, 1774, 200 English and 
Negroes went on to the northeast end of the isl- 
and of Conanicut, and burnt eight farm houses, 
with cribs and barns, bringing oft' what they 
could and burning the rest. And this was not all : 
The females were stript of every thing valuable 
about their persons ; the old men abused barbar- 
ously. Captain John Martin was one, who died 
next day. The expedition was conducted by 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 31 

Wallace in person, who was a witness of their di- 
abolical proceedings. Soldiers were immediately 
raised and sent on from the Narraganset side, but 
they arrived only in time to see the smouldering 
ruins, and hear the wailing of the defenceless in- 
habitants. 

A few days after, the British squadron with 250 
men, made a descent upon the island of Prudence, 
further up the Bay, where the same scenes were 
acted over, with this difference only that there 
was a small force on the island, who endeavored 
to make a defence, but were obliged to make a 
precipitate retreat, and were taken olT by their 
boats to Warwick neck, the only thing which 
could have prevented their being hemmed in and 
cut to pieces. All this to be sure, and a vast deal 
more, was nothing to what was done afterwards, 
when Prescott and his forces were in possession 
of Rhode-Island, and General Pageot likewise, but 
it will be recollected those and similar enormities 
were perpetrated while England yet regarded us 
as her subjects ; while she professed to hold out 
the olive branch, and in her own language was 
''seeking by every means to conciliate her rebel- 
lious subjects." Of course these were only pater- 
nal chastisements. No one felt more indignation 
than General Barton. He returned to Providence, 
and for a few days sat about settling his business 
and arranging things for the comfort of his family, 
with the intention of returning to Roxbury, and 
again entering the service, the time having ex- 
pired for which he agreed to stay ; but the situa- 
tion of affairs at Newport demanded a force to be 
stationed on the island, and a certain number of 
militia being drafted for that purpose. Colonel Bar- 
ton was appointed to that office. The place where 
he was quartered was in a house just without the 
town, belonging to Mr. Irish, and on the very spot 



3-2 LIFE OF GENERv^L BARTON. 

where the elegant residence of George Irish Esq. 
now stands, the former house having been burnt 
by the British. This place was about four miles 
from Mr. Overing's residence, on the great road 
leading from Newport to Bristol and Howland's 
ferries. During the residence of Colonel Barton 
at the above mentioned place, he became a great 
favorite with the patriot part of the population of 
Newport. They still remember his social quali- 
ties, his politeness, constant good humor, and pa- 
triotic sentiments, and relate many of his anec- 
dotes, and humorous songs. It was his constant 
practice to reconnoiter about the Island, and it 
appeared there was not a nook or corner escaped 
him. Hence every spot of ground in that region 
had become familiar, a circumstance that lessened 
the danger a little, in the exploit he afterwards 
performed in that neighborhood. It became appa- 
rent, however, upon the approach of the British 
fleet, that Newport could make no adequate de- 
fence, and Colonel Barton was ordered to take his 
men to Tiverton, in other words to remove his 
quarters. It is not to be supposed the people of 
Rhode-Island sat down all this time in inglorious 
inactivity. Privateering had been carried on for 
some time before this, and with much success, as 
will be seen by a reference to American History. 
It was very successfully carried on in Rhode- 
Island, notwithstanding the situation of Newport. 
It is almost incredible what risks were run, and 
what hair breadth escapes were effected, eluding 
the vigilance of British cruisers about the harbor 
of Newport, and in Narraganset Bay ; numerous 
prizes too, and some quite important ones, at this 
season were carried up to Taunton, some through 
the narrow channel of Howland's ferry, where 
indeed they were protected through the Seconnett, 
by the guns of the fort erected on Tiverton heights. 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 33 

and once in the waters of Mount Hope Bay, they 
were safe. There were at that time some of the 
bravest and most successful Captains in Rhode- 
Island, in both Newport and Providence, tliat ever 
sailed on the ocean. On the 3d of March, 1776, 
Captain Esek Hopkins, created an Admiral, and the 
only Admiral in the service of the United States, 
was dispatched on a cruise with several ships of 
war, in one of which the celebrated John Paul Jones 
was commander. Commodore Abraham Whip- 
ple commanded one, and Captain John Hopkins 
another; they were very successful, and after a 
short cruise returned deeply laden with warlike 
stores, bombs, cannon, small arms, powder, balls, 
and a quantity of copper and iron; these were 
seized at Nassau, New-Providence, where they 
had made a descent, took the forts, and brought 
off the Governor and a number of distinguished 
prisoners. On their return they fell in with a 
number of ships belonging to the retreating forces 
of Wallace, and probably would have captured 
them all but for their heavy loading. Commodore 
Whipple had an encounter with the Glasgow, the 
most formidable of them, and it was believed 
would have captured her, but for one false move- 
ment, which giving her the advantage of the wind, 
enabled her to escape without coming to an en- 
gagement. For this he was severely blamed ; so 
that he thought proper to request a Court-Martial 
to sit on his conduct, who exonerated him from all 
suspicion of cowardice, and imputed it wholly to 
one error in judgment. Commodore Whipple was 
a brave and gallant man, and he afterwards fully 
redeemed himself during his subsequent conduct 
in the war. As we were then almost wholly with- 
out a navy, privateers were the usual means of 
annoyance to the enemy within our waters, and 
prodigies of valor were actually enacted by them 



34 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

as they were looked to so much for defence, and 
other important assistance, such as carrying de- 
spatches, intercepting forraging parties, securing 
naval and other stores, removing families and 
property in exposed situations, &c., it is not strange 
they should have been considered as much more 
respectable in that day, than in this. They were 
then in fact the navy of the United States, if not 
technically so, yet operatively, though there were 
some even then, who were principled against such 
species of warfare, as they for the most part are 
engaged in, and who could not bring themselves 
to believe that the seizure of private property 
could in any way be justified, not even in retali- 
ation.* 

While stationed on Tiverton, R. I. on the east 
side of Rowland's ferry. Colonel Barton was of 
signal service in protecting the channel, in facili- 
tating a correspondence with Newport, after it 
came into the possession of the British, under the 
command of General Clinton and Lord Percy, and 
who appointed General Prescott, the exposed and 
defenceless state of that ill-fated place having 
obliged them to surrender to the British Ibrces, on 
their demand. They had however capitulated 
honorably, and upon condition of being permitted 

* This brings to mind a little anecdote, which, though quite 
irrelevant to the subject, is neverless too good to be lost. Mr. B. 
a merchant of Providence, and a man quite celebrated afterwards 
for his liberality and public spirit, was the owner of a most fortu- 
nate privateer, which sailed out of the port of Providence. On one 
occasion, when she had just unshipped a cargo of sugars, &c. taken 
from a very rich prize, in rolling it into the yard, one of the hogs- 
heads stove and a quantity of the sugar fell out. A poor woman in 
the neighborhood, seeing the disaster, ran and filled her apron. Mr. 
B. from the loft of his store called out, " What you doing there ?" 
The poor woman, looking up, answered, " Privateering, sir." 



LIFE OF GENPJRAL BARTON. J}5 

to remove their families and effects to a safer 
place. It was even agreed that they should have 
twenty-four hours to depart in before they landed. 

The waters of Narraganset Bay and Taunton 
River perhaps never before, and it is hoped may 
not ag-ain present such a scene. Every thing that 
could be put in requisition, was employed to bring 
off the poor families. Those who have nothing 
to lose are somehow always the most afraid of 
being robbed, and hence the multitude of poor and 
destitute beings, who are always the first to fly in 
dangers of this sort. Many of the rich remained, 
some for treasonable purposes, and some from an 
honest confidence in British faith ; and others from 
a vain hope of protecting their dwellings from 
spoliation. Some from sickness and disability 
were unable to come off at the time, and after- 
wards procured passports. These however were 
obtained in many instances with difficulty, and in 
others peremptorily refused. The sufferings and 
inconveniences of those who remained and were 
friendly to the American cause, was the subject 
of frequent communication between the British 
commander and Colonel Barton, as he was then 
styled; and to this day, in 1838, he is gratefully 
remembered in Newport by some of the oldest in- 
habitants and descendants of those to whom he 
rendered on such occasions prompt and efficient 
services. 

Colonel Barton was walking one day near the 
shore in deep reflection about the fate of a small 
sloop from Providence, which he had engaged for 
a few days to bring some much needed supplies 
to the fort. There were twenty chances to one 
she had been captured in the Bay, and that their 
enemies were then rioting on the spoils of what 
was intended to fill the mouths of his impatient 
soldiers. A commander does not feel very pleas- 



^Q LIFE OF GENERAL BARTOX. 

antly when threatened with the prospect of hav-^ 
ing" to put his men upon short allowance. The 
sun went down, and no sloop appeared, but it was 
a beautiful evening and the Colonel continued to 
traverse the shore, and ever and anon to turn his 
eyes in the direction of Fall River, for from the 
point of land projecting out just below that ro- 
mantic village, she would first be descried. At 
length a dark speck was visible, just turning the 
point, it enlarged and became more distinct, and 
bending his head he descried her mast against the 
clouds. Overjoyed, the Colonel rubbed his hands 
and summoned several gentlemen who chanced to 
be in the fort to enjoy the sight. Silently and 
cautiously the little craft crept along the shore, 
until she arrived at the landing place, when the 
Colonel leaped on board followed by his guests. 
The first object he saw was a woman. "In the 
name of heaven, Rosa, how came you here .'"' 
was his first exclamation. The person addressed 
was Rosanna Hicks, a next door neighbor, and as 
may well be believed, a woman of singular reso- 
lution. These boats were very small and very 
inconvenient. After a whole week in making the 
passage, having for the most part to skulk round 
the shore in the dark, and in continual danger if 
descried by the enemy, either of being captured 
or blown to the bottom. Yet in this boat this 
woman, instigated by no feelings but those of 
gratitude and humanity, had embarked in order 
to rescue a captive family from the island, and, 
" How do you expect to get at them ?" asked the 
Colonel. " VVhy, to get you to help me, to be sure," 
said Rosa, not the least intimidated. '' Cannot 
you send some trusty soldier to Newport with 
me." The Colonel paused. At length said he, 
'' Well, come up and we will see in the morning 
what can be done." No, she must go that night, 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 37 

nothing else would do ; the case was a pressing 
one. The family was Captain Read's ; the wife 
ill ; the husband absent ; lived in a lonely place 
at Easton's beach.; was hourly exposed to insult, 
and constantly terrified by the neighborhood of 
the Hessian soldiers." The Colonel looked per- 
plexed. At length a gentleman, who had become 
interested by the simple eloquence of Rosa, stepped 
up and offered his horse and chaise to carry her, 
if the Colonel could find a safe and respectable es- 
cort. " She can have her choice of my soldiers," 
said the Colonel. Rosa immediately selected a 
Mr. Larchar, a neighbor and distant connexion of 
her family, and they set out, after the necessa- 
ry directions, on their journey to the beach ; 
and in what manner they procured the passport, 
the countersign, &c. does not belong to this story, 
but at noon next day, Rosa again presented her- 
self with her friend and three little children to go 
up with the boat which was to return to Provi- 
dence that day. The boat had been charged with 
despatches and therefore could not wait; but the 
Colonel assured them there would be a chance 
again in a day or two, and advised them to keep 
as near the encampment as possible. There was 
then a poor widow residing in a small cottage in 
the neighborhood, by the name of Thankful Irish. 
She had fled from Newport on the first news of 
the coming of the British. It was not the first 
time the Colonel had given quarters to distressed 
families in her humble cottage. He was kind 
enough to go up next day and inform them there 
was a gentleman coming up by land who would 
bring one of the ladies in his chaise. They were 
unable to accept of the civility. Mrs. Read was 
quite ill, and on the next evening gave birth to a 
son, in the dismal little hut, which contained only 
4 



38 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

one room and a closet, and loft overhead. The 
unfortunate lady was impressed with the idea she 
should not survive, and nothing but the kind ex- 
ertions of the Colonel, who on this occasion dis- 
covered all the zeal in the cause of humanity that 
any one could exert, to human view saved her ; 
he sent every assistance that could be procured, 
went in person to try to reassure her, and sent an 
express immediately to the commander in chief at 
Boston to have the husband released upon a fur- 
lough, and at the end often days procured a pas- 
sage for the family in a packet bound to Pawtuxet. 

Captain Read was the maternal grandfather of 
the writer, and these particulars were gathered 
Irom Rosa herself as well as from the family of 
Captain Read. 

One other circumstance connected with the 
story of this family cannot be omitted, as it tends 
to exhibit the character of Colonel Barton in a 
light entirely different from what we should look 
for in a camp at the present day, and we hope we 
shall be excused for the repetition. 

There was in the house where the Colonel was 
quartered, a young lady of considerable beauty 
and very prepossessing manners. She was young 
and ignorant of the world, and unsuspicious of 
guile. It was the fortune of the Colonel (then a 
very good looking man) to interest this girl in a 
very uncommon degree, and she did not seek to 
disguise it. The other officers all assured her he 
was not married, although he himself asserted he 
was. Still she was prone to believe v;hat she 
wished she did not, and continued to lavish those 
attentions on him which no lady ought to bestow 
upon a married man. 

Rosanna Hicks came up the river with three 
younsT children of iMrs. Read, and Colonel Barton 
sent word to her to stop at his quarters before she 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 39 

went to her friend. They were just sitting* down 
to their morning mess, and the young v/oman de- 
scribed was pouring out coffee. Rosa had been 
out on the river two nights and one day on her 
return, and was much exhausted, but he would 
compel her to sit down and breakfast with them. 
There were several officers present, and a clergy- 
man of the Episcopal church. As he said he 
wanted Rosa's evidence, she thought there was 
no excuse to be made, and submitted with as 
good a grace as possible. 

After breakfast, she demanded to have her evi- 
dence taken. " Well, then, said the Colonel, I 
want you to tell these gentlemen whether I am or 
am not a married man." "Why, to be sure you 
are," said Rosa, " and by the way, Mrs. Barton 
called to me when I started, desiring me to tell 
you they were all well." 

The officers, she observed, were stifling with 
laughter one moment, and looked very grave the 
next ; and she at first thought it some joke to her- 
self. But chancing to see the young female De- 
fore mentioned, gUde out of the room, pale as 
ashes, she divined the business. Rosa was a 
plain, sensible woman, and she made the quota- 
tion when relating this anecdote, " that he was 
the greatest General who conquered himself" 
When we consider the very great temptation that 
persons confined from society, shut up, as it were, 
in a camp, are under, to seize upon any thing that 
promises amusement, Vv^e must certainly think 
there was some merit in resisting it, merely be- 
cause it was calculated to give pain to another. 
There was a restlessness in the Colonel, interest- 
ed as he felt, too, in the cause of the country, that 
made a life of idleness at this period of his life, 
extremely irksome to him. He did not want to 
eat the bread of idleness, and his mind was con- 



49 LIFE OF GENERAL BASTOM. 

tinually at work to contrive some way in which he 
could be more useful, and do something- for his 
country. He had at various times employed spies 
upon the island, to ascertain the exact situation of , 
the British forces in Newport ; and although their 
reports were something- of a contradictory nature, 
a design had been maturing in his brain for a con- 
siderable length of time, of going there himself. 
He reflected, it was a mortifying circumstance 
that General Lee was retained in confinement, and 
like to be, for want of a person of equal rank to 
exchange for him. Not that there was any great 
anxiety about the fate of General Lee, or a very 
longing desire to see him return, the disaffection 
between that gentleman and General Washington 
had alienated the affections of the people from 
him ; nevertheless, there was a kind of national 
disgrace, a sense of humiliation in not being able 
to offer a suitable ransom, as he was nominally, at 
least, an officer of high grade in the service (^{ ihe 
StatPs. F>psides, he was taken by stratagem. ; he 
was surprised when at a distance from his troops, 
and carried off \iY a cowp de main. 

Without mentioning his design to any one, the 
Colonel deliberated long upon the feasibility of 
surprising General Prescott ; often on the solitary 
shore, he would ruminate for hours upon the plan, 
and while the other officers were wondering what 
all at once had made him so unsociable, he was 
unconscious that any eye was upon him. 

At length, in the month of June, 1777, a Mr. 
Coffin m.ade his escape from the island, and was 
brought to Colonel Barton's quarters. From this 
person he learned that General Prescott was quar- 
tered at the house of a Mr. Overing, on the west 
side of the island, about one mile from the shore. 
He described it particularly, told the number of 
troops stationed near it, described their position. 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 41 

and several other things, all of which tended to 
strengthen Colonel Barton in the belief of the pos- 
sibility of effecting a surprise.* Mr. Coflin was 
followed next day by a deserter from the British 
lines, whose story confirmed the information given 
the preceding day. Often has the writer of this 
heard this action canvassed by judicious persons, 
and often heard them aver that had the plot been 

*Quam, the negro who had been employed in the kitchen of Mr. 
Overing, had carried a very perfect account of the situation of the 
General in the house. But the most astonishing part of the busi- 
ness was, that Colonel Barton should himself have ventured into 
the neighborhood as a spy, to reconnoiter the enemy, previous to 
the formation of his plan to surprise Prcscott. That, although 
never before communicated to the public, was certainly true. Mr. 
George Lawton, vrho has only recenily deceased, was acquainted 
with the fact. lie called at his house in the night, and knocking 
at his door, inquired if any persons had passed there that night. 
Mr. Lawton, who had then several British officers quartered in his 
house, felt a misgiving, but answered him in such a manner as to 
avoid suspicion, and pass him off as one of the British. He felt con- 
vinced if he ever should hear the voice again, he should recognize 
it. But ic so happened, he did not, until after the evacuatioji of 
the island by the Bi-ili.:;h. It was when Washington made his tri- 
umphant entry into the town, accompanied by Count Rochambcau 
and others. Mr. Lawton was in the next room where Colonel Bar- 
ton was convcrshig with one of the Generals, and the door being 
open he recognized the voice of the spy at once, and took the oppor- 
tunity afterwards to let him know it. Colonel Barton laid the in- 
junction of silence upon him, and Mr. Lawton kept it to himself for 
many years ; in fact, it is believed he never mentioned it publicly. 
The reason must be obvious. He exceeded his power, in absenting 
himself thus from his camp ; and had it been assaulted in his ab- 
sence, he would probably have been broken. Perhaps he, himself, 
thought the example a bad one, and for that reason wished to con- 
ceal it. The slory has been told tl;.c author by three persona of re- 
sponsibility, who had it from Mr. Lawton. 

4* 



42 LIFE Ol'- GENERAL BARTON. 

blown before it ripened, and the Colonel and his 
company been cut up by the swords of the enemy, 
it would have been considered as the most mad, 
hair-brained piece of work ever undertaken, and 
had he survived the slaughter, he would have 
been broke at least, and perhaps even dealt with 
with more severity. To many, however, it ap- 
pears otherwise. Had it failed, it would have still 
been a glorious attempt to serve his country, even 
at the extreme peril of his life or liberty. 

There was one difficulty in the mind of General 
Barton. The troops stationed at Tiverton were 
raw ones. They were not inured to service, and 
should they be discovered before they could get 
off the island, there would probably be some sharp 
fighting, this circumstance was in itself so discour- 
aging that it caused him to deliberate several days 
after the plan had all been arranged in his mind. 
He dreaded to reveal any thing to his officers, lest 
the very great difficulties in the way should dis- 
courage them, and he could find no one to second 
his views. At length, after much deliberation, he 
communicated it in private to Colonel Stanton. 
He could not, it is believed, have made a more 
judicious choice of a confidant; he was a man 
brave, cool, determined, and solid in his judgment; 
he did not deliberate long before he assured Col- 
onel Barton that he thought the plan feasible, and 
that he might wholly rely upon his aid, and hearty 
co-operation. Thus strengthened, the Colonel pro- 
ceeded to unfold the particulars of his plot, and 
the means by which he designed to carry it into 
execution. Of Colonel Stanton's secrecy he felt 
no doubts, but that veteran with himself decided 
that it would be injudicious to confide the express 
object of the expedition to any other ; as all de- 
pended upon secrecy, other confidants would be 
dansrerous. Affain the Colonel walked the shore. 



LIFE OF GENERxVL BARTON. 43 

in a long" and lonel}^ ramble. The solitary gran- 
deur of the scene was of itself sufficient to inspire 
h^g-h thoughts and tempt to deeds of noble daring. 
1 one side, the unbounded prospect of the migh- 
ty Atlantic met his view. Its ever restless waves 
were breaking at his feet, and its ceaseless and 
sullen roar sounding in his ears. Here and there 
a ship of war was lying at anchor, ready to catch 
every thing that might come in its way. The flag 
of Old England waved triumphant in the breeze, 
and the banner of the Republic appeared banished 
from the great highway of nations. The heart of 
the Colonel beat quick and hard. '' I will go, said 
he, if I go alone. I will strike one blow for my 
country, if fate never permits me to strike anoth- 
er." He had got himself worked up to the right 
temperament, and he turned to retrace his steps 
to the encampment. In doing so the beautiful 
island of Rhode-Island once more met his view. 
He felt as though he had never seen it before. 
The ruthless hand of all-devastating war had in- 
deed been there. It was now the latter part of 
the month of June, and the splendor of a summer 
sun rested upon the beautiful landscape; but no 
sign of cultivation was there, as ruiued gardens, 
deserted cottages, and fields laid waste by fora- 
ging parties and by the foot of wanton spoliation, 
absolutely pained the senses. But yesterday it 

was as the garden of Eden ! but now ! The 

Colonel was a man who could feel more than he 
could express. He had not the gift of eloquence, 
but he was not insensible to the sublime, and he 
felt, though he could not have described it, " the 
poetry of nature." Here was a scene that might 
have transformed almost any one into a Brutus, 
and he hastily turned from the contemplation of 
the dazzling shore, trod now by the feet of an en- 
emy, towards the fort. Here, summoning a hasty 



44 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

council of some of the most daring and confiden- 
tial among them, he prepared to unveil as much 
of the plot as he judged prudent. The officers be- 
side Colonel Stanton, were only five in number. 
Their names and rank were as follows : 

Ebenezer Adams, Captain of Artillery ; Samuel 
Phillips, Captain ; James Potter, Lieutenant ; Josh- 
ua Babcock, Lieutenant, and John Wilcox. 

To these he confided the existence of a plot, the 
design of a secret expedition for a secret object, 
the purport of which he could not then avow : 
and asked if they had sufficient confidence in him 
to go with him, without knowing for the present, 
its precise object. Without the least hesitation^ 
they all at once professed the most perfect readi- 
ness and alacrity, and agreed to set about obtain- 
ing boats immediately, calculated to hold fifty per- 
sons. There were two whale boats at the station, 
and the Colonel demanded five. In a few days 
the remaining three were procured ; and now all 
w^as ready except the men, who had not been en- 
gaged for fear of creating suspicion. The Colonel 
was determined to take only volunteers, and the 
regiment was ordered to be paraded. Colonel 
Barton then addressed them, telling them he was 
about undertaking an expedition against the ene- 
my and wished to have forty volunteers ; and de- 
sired those who were willing to risk their lives 
with him to advance two paces in front. At this, 
the whole regiment advanced. It was an aflTect- 
ing scene ; each was desirous to follow to the can- 
non's mouth, to serve their suffering country; new 
as scenes of carnage and blood were to them, they 
were ready to dare the onset. How gratified their 
commander must have felt. But all could not go, 
and their commander was obliged to select those 
whom he knew to be most expert at rowing. For 
well had their skill and strength in that depart- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 45 

iiieat been tested during* their sojourn at Tiver- 
ton ; rowing- up into Mount Hope Bay, and round 
through Bristol ferry, and up through the bay to 
Providence, was no small job, and might well test 
the skill of rovv^ers. The characters of the candi- 
dates, however, were not overlooked ; and none 
were accepted but such as full reliance might be 
judged to be placed in. When selecting the forty, 
he affectionately thanked them all for their will- 
ingness. The next evening they embarked. It 
was on the memorable 4th of July, just one year 
from the time of the declaration of independence, 
that the adventurous party took their departure 
from the encampment. They proceeded in safe- 
ty, favored, doubtless, by the intense darkness 
which usually precedes a thunder storm. They 
had no sooner entered Mount Hope Bay than it 
commenced with great violence, and they soon 
lost sight of each other, one only kept alongside 
the one the Colonel was in ; and these two did not 
get into Bristol until nine o'clock on the evening 
of the 5th, having been about twenty-six hours in 
the voyage across the bay of Mount Hope. 

They proceeded to the quarters of the command- 
ing officer stationed at Bristol, where they found 
another deserter from the British camp ; but from 
his blundering and incoherent story they could 
gain no information calculated to assist them. 
Here, by agreement, the party met, and Colonel 
Barton had the satisfaction of seeing the remain- 
der of the company all assembled safe, the other 
boats came in about an hour after. 

It was a beautiful evening, and the Colonel be- 
fore retiring to his quarters, took them to Hog- 
Island ; a small island lying just in the mouth of 
the harbor, leaving a narrow passage through on 
the north towards Paposquash point, and another 
towards Bristol ferry. It was a most sightly place, 



46 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

and to have gone there in the day time, would in- 
fallibly have aroused suspicion ; but favored by 
the imperfect light of a fine, but star-light night. 
they escaped observation. On this isolated spot, 
which commanded a view of the adjacent islands, 
and a w4de one of the bay, Colonel Barton for the 
first time designed to acquaint his soldiers with 
the object of their destination. His heart swelled 
higli as he bade them remark the British shipping 
in the bay. They could see them distinctly, and 
their appearance was somewhat formidable ; all 
seemed hushed to profound repose on the opposite 
side, the north side of Rhode-Island, in full view 
of the British encampment. The curtains of the 
army tents were just moved by the soft breezes of 
a July evening ; the evening gun had long since 
been fired, and the reveille beat to quarters, and 
only the tread of the watchful sentinel as he slow- 
ly paced backwards and forwards before the doors 
of the tents, seemed to give notice that they were 
alive. Those hardy bands, that but one wordy 
or one gun, would have immediately called into 
action and stimulated to deeds of rapine and blood- 
shed, now slept in peace, for that night at least. 

Rude and unlettered as the most of that little 
band might be supposed to be, the effect of the 
scene was not lost upon them ; and when their 
commander proceeded to unfold his plan, and state 
the object for which their services were required, 
a ready response followed the avowal, and all at 
once professed their readiness to risk their lives in 
the attempt, and do the utmost in their power. 
They w^ere surprised, astonished, at the boldness 
of the plan, but as much delighted as surprised ; 
and promised solemnly, not to give the least hint 
of it. They then returned to Bristol, and re- 
mained there until about nine o'clock the next 
evening, the 6th, when they re-embarked, and 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTOX. 47 

passed over to Warwick neck. Colonel Barton, 
himself, proceeded to Warren, to take one more 
look of his family, who were then on a visit to his 
mother. Although he had been up all the night 
before on the water, his wife observed that he 
scarcely closed his eyes that night, and knowing 
by his restlessness that something lay heavy on 
his mind, as she expressed it, tried every art she 
was mistress of to come at it, bat in vain. He 
had just communicated the secret to forty men, 
but nothing could prevail on him to disclose it to 
a woman, even the wife of his bosom ; a most 
abominable want of gallantry, certainly, and for 
which he did not deserve to have a woman write 
his history. But as the christian maxim is, to re- 
turn good for evil, we shall take our revenge by 
saying all the good we know about him, and give 
him full credit for the patriotic feeling and noble 
daring of which we sincerely believe him to have 
been capable. 

Silent, cautious, and as before, with muified 
oars, the little party once more embarked on their 
perilous enterprise, and after various evolutions 
to escape the cognisance of the enemy's ships, 
safely arrived on the opposite side of Narragansett 
Bay, at a place called Warwick Neck, from whence 
they designed to cross over to Rhode-Island. It 
was necessary, however, to lay there the next 
day, and during the course of it the wind changed 
to east northeast, and brought on a storm, which 
was the occasion of much delay, and they did not 
get away from there finally until the evening of 
the 9th, at about nine o'clock. 

Before the departure of the boats from Warwick 
Neck, again the Colonel numbered them all, and 
appointed each his place. To every boat there 
was one commissioned officer, exclusive of Colonel 
Barton. The party consisted of forty-one men, 



48 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

officers included, viz. five officers, forty-five pri- 
vates, and a black servant of the Colonel, called 
Guy Watson, a faithful attendant and a shrewd 
fellow, and one who, in his own opinion at least, 
formed a very important personage in the expedi- 
tion. We regret sincerely that the poor fellow is, 
dead. His demise was of very recent occurrence, 
and he continued to regret to the day of his death, 
that his name had never appeared in any account 
of the transaction. After the capture of Prescott, 
Guy was made a drummer, and we will venture 
to say a prouder one never handled drum-sticks. 
He was remarkably small, and when attenuated 
by age, his appearance was the most grotesque 
that can be imagined. On all public days he usu- 
ally made his appearance on the parade ground, 
dressed in complete uniform, and his appearance 
was a perfect holiday to all the little urchins about 
street, who would immediately crowd around, to 
listen to his stories, and hear him in his cracked 
voice sing the old Ballad, beginning " Brave Bar- 
ton !" 

Silently, reverently and attentively, the little 
band drew round their commander to receive his 
last orders. In a subdued voice the Colonel gave 
his orders. First, " that they were to preserve t!i^ 
strictest order ;" secondly, " not to have the least 
idea of plunder ;" thirdly, " to observe the most 
profound silence ;" and fourthly, "to take no spir- 
itous liquors whatever with them." He spoke a 
few words on the hazard attending it, and on his. 
part pledged himself " to share every danger, 
whatever it might be, equally with his soldiers." 
A solemn pause succeeded for a moment. The 
deep conviction that there was after all. One above 
all, and over all, in whose hands are the destinies 
of nations and individuals, irresistibly forced itself 
upon the mind. The idea was overwhelming. 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 49 

The Col. reverently uncovered his head, and look- 
ing up, most earnestly commended himself and 
those who were with him to the protection of 
Him who is the disposer of events. Each soldier 
respectfully raised his hat, then hastily replacing 
it, proceeded to take his station in the boat. 



CHAPTER 11. 

Previous to the departure of the little company 
from Warwick Neck, the commander on that sta- 
tion had been directed to keep a sharp lookout, 
and if he should hear the report of three distinct 
muskets, to come to the north end of Prudence 
and take them off; for they had reasons to fear 
the British men-of-war might send their boats out 
and cut them off from the main. The force on 
Warwick Neck, though not very considerable in 
number, was (owing to their position) a very im- 
portant one. The guns from their battery, had 
often protected both the outward and homeward 
bound vessels of the Americans in the bay. To run 
the back passage, was in general the most secure of 
danger from the enemy; and vessels chased, often 
took shelter along side, until prudence warranted 
their coming up the bay, and their force, small as it 
was, did on more occasions than one, protect the 
property and persons of the inhabitants of the ad- 
jacent islands of Canonicut and Prudence, as well 



50 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

as the villages along the shore on the Narragan- 
sett side. 

In the forward boat of the little company Colo- 
ne IBarton postetl himself, with a pole ten feet long, 
and a handkerchief tied to the end of it, so that his 
boat might be known from the others, and none 
might go before it. They had to steer between 
the islands of Prudence and Patience, in order that 
the enemy's shipping, which lay against Hope Is- 
land, might not discover them; they then rowed 
under the west side of Prudence, until they came 
to the southward; here they came very near en- 
countering some of the enemy's ships, which now- 
lay so near them that they distinctly heard the 
sentinal cry out, "AH 's well." However, by dint 
of manoeuvering, they made out to elude observa- 
tion, and got safely and unobserved to within about 
three quarters of a mile of Rhode-Island; here a 
new cause of alarm arose. They heard a noise 
on the island, like the running of horses. What 
could it be.-^ Could it be the troops on the island 
apprised of their coming, and preparing to inter- 
cept them.^ They rested on their oars some min-^ 
utes, but hearing nothing more, the Colonel con- 
cluded it was only the accidental running of horse& 
as they often do when let loose, and gave the sig- 
nal to go on. 

Upon gaining the shore, they left a man to the 
care of each boat, charged to be ready for a push 
in case the enemy should endeaver to impede their 
retreat. The party were then marched in five di- 
visions from the shore, wiiich was just one mile 
from the house. Quite near the house there was 
a hill to rise, and through this, there was a deep 
gulley, worn by the rain washing away the 
dirt. Nothing could have been better contrived. 
Through this the soldiers silently and cautiously 
crept until they gained the top, and found them- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 51 

selves just by the house ; the entrance to which, 
was by three doors, south, east, and west. Three 
of the five divisions were to attack each a door ; 
the fourth, to guard the road ; the fifth, to act on 
emergencies, and as to Guy, the black, he kept 
close in the track of the Colonel. In passing to 
the house they left the guard-house on the left; and 
a little left of that was the Redwood house, where 
General Smith, second in command, was stationed. 
The house is nou^, 1838, the property of Christo- 
pher G. Champlin, Esq. On the right, or New- 
port side, was a building appropriated to a party 
of light-horse, who v\^ere quartered there for the 
purpose of carrying orders from General Prescott 
to any part of the island. There was also a sen- 
tinel stationed about twenty-five yards from the 
gate. No fears agitated the inhabitants within. 
Believing himself as secure as though snugly 
stowed away on his own fast-anchored isle, the 
haus-iity representative of British clemenc}^ and 
paternal affection, rested in imagined security ; 
around, within the sound of a whistle, lay his am- 
ple body guard ; a party of troops on the right, 
and the bay was lined with British ships. 

What could he fear ? Besides, his host (a gen-* 
uine tory, who afterwards accompanied him to 
England), was a host in himself; his aid, Major 
Barrington, Mr. Overing's son, and the servants, 
constituted the household, or the male part of it, 
at least. 

History gives no reason why these persons slept 
so well on this night, yet there was a reason. A 
rich prize had been brought into Newport the day 
before, of Wines and Santa Cruz, and as usual, a 
jolly carouse had been held in Newport at the 
house of one Bannister, a refugee tory, a person 
who left the island, with the principal part of His 
Majesty's friends, at the evacuation of the town. 



52 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON, 

On this occasion it was shrewdly suspected some 
of said puncheons were tapped, and notwithstand- 
ing the coffee that finished an Enghsh dinner, that 
the General and his friends, who were hicky after 
all to get to their quarters in safety, were sleep- 
ing at the rate of " ten knots an hour." 

The sentinel, be that as it may, was sober, and 
we would not for the world be so vulgar as to say 
all were not ; when they opened the gate of the 
front yard, he put the usual interrogation, " Who 
comes there?" They gave no anwer, but continued 
advancing, there being a row of trees between them 
he could not so well distinguish their number; he 
was not therefore alarmed, but reiterated the 
question, when the Colonel answered " Friends." 
" Advance and give the countersign," responded 
the sentinel. " We have none, said General Bar- 
ton, but have you seen any deserters to-night ?" 
This of course had all been concerted as a decoy, 
and it had the effect, for the poor fellow never 
dreamed of treachery, until he found his arn: pin- 
ioned to his sides, as by a vice, his musket seized, 
and he was threatened with " instant death if he 
made the least noise." They asked him " if Pres- 
cott was within ?" He was so much frightened 
he could not speak, at first, but at length waving 
his hand towards the house, he said '' Yes." By 
this time, each division had got its station and the 
door was burst in ; and they ascended first to a 
chamber above, where it chanced the worthy host 
himself lodged. He said the General was not 
there, appeared much frightened, and pointed with 
his finger to the apartment below. However, they 
did not believe him, but securing him, proceeded 
to the next chamber, where Mr. Overing's son 
lay, and not finding him, descended to the room 
below, which was fastened, but Guy, whose head 
was as hard as a cannon ball, made one plunge 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 53 

and burst through, head first. Previous to this, 
on the head of the stairs, Colonel Barton called 
to his men and told them to set the house on fire, 
at the lour corners, as he was determined to have 
General Prescott, either dead or alive; and Pres- 
cott aroused probably for the first time, called out 
"What is the matter?" Guided by this sound, 
they immediately descended to the room, and the 
Colonel, as he entered, saw a man sitting on the 
side of the bed; clapping him on the shoulder, the 
Colonel asked him "if he was General Prescott?" 
He answered "Yes, sir." The Colonel then told 
him he was his prisoner; he replied, " I acknowl- 
edge it, sir." The Colonel then telling him he 
must go with them, he begged the privilege of 
putting on his clothes; the Colonel told him, very 
few^ for their business required haste, and in fact, 
such was the haste that they were under the ne- 
cessity of hurrying the General away without his 
clothes, a misfortune that was very eloquently be- 
wailed in those days, by those mischievous fellows, 
the poets. In the beginning of the assault upon 
the house, Maj. Barrington leaped out of his cham- 
ber window, and was immediately secured by the 
guard-soldiers of the Colonel below ; him they took 
w4th the simple sentinel, in the midst of the party, 
and marched towards the shore. The sentinel, be 
it remembered, was the only one of the prisoners 
that had shoes on, and to expedite the travelling, 
General Prescott and his aid were compelled to 
hug their foes, and cling with each arm around a 
neck, while they were borne, or rather dragged, 
through the stubble. There being no particular 
obligation on the party to return by the way they 
came, they took the liberty to go back by the near- 
est path ; and avoided the defile before mentioned, 
crossing a field of rye, with black berry and rasp- 
s' 



54 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

berry bushes. In crossing this field or pasture^ 
or hill side, or whatever it was, the poor Gen- 
eral got a severe scratching, and as his torment- 
ors would not slacken their speed, he was obliged 
to pursue his journey in a most uncomfortable 
manner. The leisurely and cautious pace, at 
which they crept on towards the house, was dis- 
carded now, and dashing on by the nearest route, 
they soon left house and pursuers, all far behind, 
and gained the boats in safety. Then seating the 
prisoners in number one, the Colonel put his own 
cloak over the shivering General, and pushed off. 
Somebody, however, had made out to break loose 
from the house and give information of the theft, 
for they had no sooner put from the shore 
than the signal of alarm was given, the firing of 
three cannon and three rockets. Nevertheless, 
the little party pursued its way in safety. Gen- 
eral Prescott just asked if Colonel Barton com- 
manded. Upon getting into the boats he was 
answered in the affirmative. "• You have made a 

bold push to-night," said he. He appeared 

much confused when taken, and when he found 
himself so near the British shipping, agitated and 
perplexed, he wisely forbore any vain attempts at 
escape or alarm; instead of which, however, he 
said he hoped they would not hurt him. " Oh no," said 
the Colonel, '' you shall not be hurt, while under 
my care." 

It was not one hour after Prescott was taken, 
before it was known all over the island; although 
it was in the middle of the night! The next day, 
about fifty British officers rode out to see the place: 
the trail was easily marked, owing to the tramp- 
ling through the field of rye, and there having 
been a heavy dew that night, their whole course 
to the shore was traced. Mortified as the British 
were at the manner of the capture, officers and 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 55 

privates were generally rejoiced to get rid of him; 
he was so arbitrary and tyrannical as to be univer- 
sally hated. The signs of mourning for the loss of 
the old General were truly ludicrous; the very 
children on the island seemed joined in the con- 
spiracy to insult the army^ and continued to throw 
themselves in the way they were passing, putting 
their handkerchiets to their eyes and making the 
most grotesque faces; many of the tories found 
their knockers tied with black crape, and the posts 
before their doors ornamented with black hat- 
bands. In short, there was no way in which Yan- 
kee wit was not exercised to bring to continual 
remembrance the mortification they had sustained. 
All the way along the road and streets of the city, 
those roguish urchins were seen wherever any 
of the British were passing, to apply their hand- 
kerchiefs to their eyes, or in case of that destitu- 
tion, their coat sleeves. 

The place where these boats were moored was 
within a creek, and just under the shelter of a lit- 
tle sand bluff; from the right of the Overing house, 
as you approach it, there is a little brook, which 
crossing the road, descends the hill in rather a 
slanting direction towards the left, and running 
through a kind of gouge empties into the creek, 
just upon the right of where the boats were moored ; 
on the right of this brook, as you approach the 
road from the shore, for about half a mile, the land 
suddenly rises in such a manner as in the dusk to 
throw a kind of shade over the gouge extremely fa- 
vorable to the march of the company, who kept 
along under the shadow of the ridge as far as it 
went, and then emerged back of Peleg Coggshall's 
farm, keeping along a little more to the left of the 
brook, until they gained the road. The guard 
house on the left, was not more than forty or fifty 
rods from their course, and stood on the spot now 



56 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

occupied by one belonging to the heirs of Moses 
Thurston. Tiie house then belonging to the fami- 
ly of Overing is nov\r the property of Captain Am- 
brose Page; and although it has been pretty much 
re-modeled and re-built since that period, it bears 
strong evidence of antiquity. The heavy cornices 
and arched mantel-pieces discovers the fashion of 
olden time, when every thing with the great was 
cumbrous magnificence. 

Of all the company who figured on that memo- 
rable night in the capture, we are not aware that 
but two remains ; Mr. Corey, now residing in 
Portsmouth, and Mr. Whitney of New York. Had 
they been sacrificed, the battle would have been 
a hot one, and Prescott would not have been re- 
taken^ alive. There was one among that company 
who would himself have despatched him; one stim- 
ulated by as deep a sense of injury as ever rankled 
in the human breast. This man, Thomas Austin, 
had been whipped three hundred lashes by the 
order of General Prescott, because he refused to 
yoke his team to carry a cannon across the island 
to defend themselves against the Americans, at 
the time of a false alarm. By the remonstance of 
the attending physicians, who protested he could 
not survive it, he was excused from receiving the 
whole compliment, and suffered to go home on pa- 
role and recover from his wounds. There he stayed 
only long enough to get someting to eat, and de- 
camped for the army, at Tiverton. 

The adventurous little boats continued their 
way through the waves witli most astonishing 
rapidity. The deep-mouthed cannon w^as echo- 
ing far and near ; the beacon of alarm was blaz- 
ing from a hundred different stations, and stream- 
ing rockets were illuminating the darkness of the 
night. The weary tread of the midnight watch 
on board the enemy's ships was exchanged for 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 57 

hustling confusion ; while the boatswain's shrill 
whistle, the speaking trumpet and the roll of the 
drum were summoning all hands on deck, beneath 
the very stern of one vessel and the bowsprit of 
another, the hardy band of patriots pushed their 
way, favored by that intense darkness, which in 
this latitude invariably precedes day-dawn ; and 
just as that blessed season arrived, " when all the 
east was streaked with gold, mingled with the soft 
purple of advancing light," and rendering the 
splendid scenery of Narragansett Bay distinct to 
the eye ; just as each lovely island rose on the 
sight of the gazer like some fabled region of ro- 
mance, the boats found themselves under the guns 
of the fort, and safe from their enemies. 

The captive General cast a rueful eye around ; 
in vain for him the landscape smiled ; the black 
beams and roofless houses on Conanicut and Pru- 
dence ; the trampled fields, where no grain was 
likely to repay the tiller's toil ; the forsaken 
hearths, and banished and slaughtered inhabi- 
tants, were present to his mind ; a day of retribu- 
tion might come, '^ what would he do with his 
enemy, in his power, as he was in that enemj^'s ?" 
What had he done with those unfortunate prison- 
ers, whom the chances of war had thrown into 
his hands ? Prisoners, seized at their own firesides, 
or in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, with no 
arms in their hands. What had he done with the 
poor old man, whom his soldiers stabbed through 
and through, while pleading for his life ? What 
with the murdered Lee, the brave Captain John 
Lee, of Connecticut ? What with the wretched, 
prisoners, now in the holds of the nauseous ves- 
sels in the harbor of Newport, starving, wasting 
away with hunger or fever, and hopeless confine- 
ment ; reviled, abused, derided, by his unfeeling 
.soldiery ? Oh, conscience ! it is not possible, but 



5S LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. ' 

at such a moment, ithovi must have asserted thy 
rights, and given a foretaste of that punishment, 
which is hereafter, in an especial manner, to over- 
whelm the unmerciful. 

But though humanity appeared banished from 
the breasts of the British commanders, equall}^ 
with their soldiers, it was not from their magnan- 
imous foes. General Barton was a man of great 
good nature and real liumane feeHngs, and he had 
determined as far as in him lay, to return good for 
evil. He escorted his prisoner to comfortable 
quarters, and despatched a messenger to Warwick 
to get a chaise and to give orders for the best 
breakfast that could be procured, and an express 
to Major-General Spencer, at Providence, for a 
coach to conduct his prisoner hither ; and with 
the coach went spectators in abundance. Colonel 
Elliot came in it. 

At the time so many distressed families were 
seeking to get away from Rhode-Island, some very 
considerable difficulty was experienced in procur- 
ing passports to get away. Mrs. Read, the person 
mentioned before in this story, was among the 
number, and finding all direct application useless, 
she at length applied herself. He at first refused, 
frankly avowing that he " meant to keep her there 
to catch her husband." But at length some of the 
imder officers, joining in the request, he relented, 
and ordered the passport made out. Upon pre- 
senting it, he said, in his usual pompous manner, 
" If you go to Providence, to get out of 7ny way, 
Mrs. Read, you will lose your labor, as I shall get 
there about as soon as you will." 

Mrs. Read was now settled in a comfortable 
residence, a house on Weybosset-street belonging 
to Mr. Butler, (still standing, near the Arcade,) 
when on the morning of the 10th of July, Captain 
William Brown, a connexion of her family, called 



LIFE OF GEx\ERAL BARTON. 59 

to tell her that her old tormentor, Prescott, was 
coming- past in the course of the day. " And now, 
Mar}^," said he, "if you will stand in the front 
door and welcome him as he passes, and say, 
why. General, you said you should be here, but I 
did not think you wouid come so soon ; scarce as 
money is, I will give you fifty dollars." " It is a 
bargain," said the lady. Accordingly, when the 
carriage came past, she threw open the front door 
and presented her majestic figure. She was a 
woman of singular appearance, take her all in all, 
and very handsome ; being somewhat above the 
common height, having a very piercing pair of 
black eyes, and when excited, there was some- 
thing startling in her look. The General, though 
riding bareheaded in an open carriage, subject to 
the gaze of the multitude, endeavored to carry 
himself with composure, and from time to time 
would turn to make some remark to his captor, 
who sat by his side, strove in vain to retain his 
equanimity, when he observed Mrs. Read. Ow- 
ing to the crowd which surrounded the carriage, 
it moved very slowly through the streets, and as 
she threw open the door, his eyes chanced to turn 
full upon her. He changed countenance, dropped 
his eyes instantly, and a transient flusli passed 
over his features ; and it was observed, tb \t from 
that moment his composure vanished. As to the 
lady, though a woman of uncommon firmness and 
fearlessness, she was quite unmoved by this un- 
looked for agitation. 

The loud huzzas that greeted his brave captor, 
had not yet ceased to ring in his ears, when Capt. 
Brown came in to see if she was entitled to her 
fifty dollars ; and very much disappointed was he 
that he had not got to pay it. 

A wonderful stir, meanwhile, was made on 
Rhode-Island, to hunt up the magnificent General 



GO LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

Prescott. They could not believe any one coukl 
have sph-ited him away from the island, so v^ell 
guarded as the harbor was ; and they continued 
so search every suspected patriot's house, until a 
despatch arrived to assure them of the fact. Im- 
mediately after, a flag of truce was despatched up 
the river to Providence, to carry his wardrobe, 
his purse, a box of soap, powder, (not black, but 
white powder,) pomatum, and half a score ot 
smelling bottles, containing Eue de Cologne, ber- 
gamot and lavender ; the dandy Lieutenant who 
had them in charge, insisted upon seeing " His 
Excellency," but this was positively denied him ; 
nor was he suffered to come farther up the river 
than Field's Point. Even here, he was detected 
in taking a draft of the harbor, &c. and came very 
near not seeing Newport again that day. 

Colonel Barton had made his wife promise to 
meet him in Providence on this day, (10th,) but 
she could not believe he would be there, and did 
not set out ; but went out to visit a friend resid> 
ing in the upper part of the village of Warren. 
During the afternoon, a straggler came past and 
told the news, which nobody believed, least of all, 
his wife ; because he had not told her he was go- 
ing there. However, before night her husband 
came himself for her and returned with her imme- 
diately to Providence. 

General Prescott was conveyed the third day 
after his capture, to Connecticut, in order to be 
exchanged for General Lee, who was then kept 
on board the Centurion man-of-war, lying off the 
capes of Virginia. Prescott was forwarded to 
New-York, taken possession of by the British to be 
exchanged; but with their accustomed subtlety, 
they still detained General Lee; continuing to 
ply him with offers to desert his country and en- 
gage in their service, and the General could not 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 61 

get released until nearlj^ a year after. Various 
conclusions have been formed respecting General 
Lee, and frequent doubts expressed of his honesty 
by writers of that day, and subsequently. If the 
writer may at this distant day be allowed to ex- 
press an opinion, she would say that imprudent 
and ill judged, and even perverse, as some of the 
subsequent actions of General Lee's life were, 
there does not appear to be any thing to support 
the assertion that the enemy succeeded then, if 
ever, in corrupting him, and the opinion is ground- 
ed upon the following facts. First, he was de- 
tained by them in inactivity a very long time, 
when if he had been bought, he might, by being 
released, have been doing them very essential ser- 
vice. Secondly, he himself made known their of- 
fers, and sent on to government a letter written 
to him, with offers from some of his tory friends, 
and made no secret of the snares laid for his hon- 
esty. Thirdly, he was vilified in the despatches 
sent over to England, and in the English papers 
was accused of being a drunkard, and was there 
represented as " kilHng himself by the use of the 
brandy bottle ;" and we must confess if he was 
a traitor under these circumstances, it was a 
policy beyond our understanding. General Lee, 
it is true, was much better treated than almost 
any prisoner that fell into their hands, for their 
cruelty to those prisoners who fell into their 
hands, whether taken in battle or from merchant 
vessels on the high seas, or stolen from off the 
land, was beyond any thing we have known any 
thing of in modern times, except that of the Turks 
towards the unfortunate Greeks, and the abuse of 
the wretched Poles, by the barbarous Russians. 
With the single exception of selling their white 
prisoners into slaverv their treatment was quite 
6 



fy2 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

as bad. Atid as to the blacks, they lured many of 
them into their service, from the southern states, 
and after the war they retained them as slaves or 
sold them to the West-India planters. 

But Lee was a General, and the only one that 
had been taken during the war. His rank, to- 
gether with the hope of corrupting him, procured 
his good treatment. 

The question is often asked at this day, " Why 
reiterate those abuses ?" '' Why keep alive a 
spirit of resentment against those who are no 
longer our enemies .'^" We ansv/er, in the first 
place, it is unavoidable ; it is so interwoven with 
our history, that without it it would be a mere 
skeleton of a history. And next, let us never lose 
sight of the price, the tremendous price that our 
country has paid for her freedom. Let the rising 
generation know it, and learn to cherish what has 
cost so dear, and learn too to beware of the en- 
croachments of despotic governments. 

Our lathers perished by hundreds in dungeons, 
on board their prison-ships, and elsewhere, rather 
than wear the badge of slavery. They were tried, 
afflicted, tormented, and they refused to accept of 
food, clothing and liberty upon condition of enlist- 
ing in the British service. Six hundred of them, 
in one year, perished in confinement at Halifax,, 
rather than purchase life at so great a cost. 
But time would fail us to recapitulate all their suf- 
ferings ; and we are not writing a history of the 
war, but of an individual, and as far as his history 
was connected with the events of the war, we 
feel ourselves compelled to detail them. 

Here we are obliged to go back to mention a 
circumstance which had much influence on the 
mind of Colonel Barton, as well as on those of 
others ; and that was the v/retched situation of 
the prisoners at Newport at that time. Every op* 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 63 

portunity that could be seized was improved by 
those unfortunate persons to send word to Provi- 
dence of their situation. At one time seven hun- 
dred of them were shut up in a meeting-house in 
Newport, where they pulled down the pews, and 
commenced building a chimney. They afterwards 
abandoned the plan. The greater part were 
conveyed to prison-ships lying in the h:irbor. 

Among other things a letter was published in 
the month of February, from the General Hospi- 
tal Surgeon, which excited the deepest indigna- 
tion in the people of Providence. It was addressed 
to Mr. Carter, publisher of the Providence Ga- 
zette, accompanied by a request from the writer 
that it might be printed. The letter was as fol- 
lows ; 

" February 22. Died in the General Hospital 
of this town, Captain John Lee, late a prisoner to 
Bi; ish cruelty, w^ho a few days before arrived 
here from Newport, with a number more who 
were exchanged. He informed me he was born 
in New-London, Con. and formerly sailed master 
of a vessel from Georgia. He has left in the hos- 
pital a trunk, watch, &c. As he made no will, nor 
gave any directions respecting the above things, 
f thought it my duty to make known to the pub- 
lic, that his relations (if any) might be made ac- 
quainted with his fate, and upon application to the 
Steward of the Hospital, receive the above arti- 
cles. 

Captain Lee was one out of seven of the above 
mentioned prisoners brought to this Hospital, in 
the most deplorable situation. The condition they 
were in when brought here was enough to excite 
the commisseration of the most barbarous savages 
in the universe, except those of Great Britain. 
Whoever could behold such spectacles of misery 
without emotion, must be callous to every feeling 



04 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

of humanity. The whole of their clothing-, when 
they arrived here (Captain Lee's excepted) was 
not worth a dollar. They were overrun with ver- 
min, half rotten with the scurvy and putrid fever ; 
some of their extremities were frozen, and rotting 
through neglect ; in fine, their condition was 
wretched beyond description. A large number of 
them were confined promiscuously in the hold of 
a vessel — officers, privates, negroes, &c. — where 
they were half starved, and denied even light for 
a number of days, and to complete their miseries, 
they did not fail to receive the kicks and scofis of 
the soldiers, when opportunity offered, who up- 
braided them with the epithet of" damned yankee 
rebels." 

This is the treatment, free born Americans 
suffer, who have the misfortune to fall into the 
hands of Britons, a nation formerly not less cele- 
brated for humanity than for bravery ; but, alas ! 
how does such conduct demonstrate them to be 
lost to all sense of it. 

ISAAC SENTER, 

Hospital Surgeon.'''' 

A cartel v/as immediately despatched, in order 
to bring away those unfortunate people. There 
were but iew^ however, for whom an exchange 
could be expected. Many died in their hands ; 
some were sent to Halifax, some to England, and 
some impressed and sent to the East-Indies, to 
fight against Hyder Ali. Persons returned to 
this State, after the war, that had been thus dis- 
posed of. Nothing, it is believed, tended to exas- 
perate the minds of the people equal to the bad 
treatment of prisoners of war. 

General Smith succeeded General Prescott, as 
General pro tem., until the arrival of Gen. Pageot 
from New-York ; but no amendment as respected 
the treatment of prisoners took place, until the na- 



IJFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 65 

^ions of Europe extended their hand to support 
the abused Americans ; then fear operated to pro- 
duce what a sense of duty and humanity failed of 
etfecting". 

Meanwhile the predatory excursions of the En- 
glish in the neighborhood of Narragansett Bay 
continued, much to the alarm of the good people 
of Providence. There were then three ships ly- 
ing in Providence harbor. One was the old Co- 
lumbus, the other two were the Providence and 
the Warren. Various plans were contrived, with- 
out eifect, by the British, to burn them, which 
caused frequent alarms by their coming so far up 
the river. The difficulties of the channel, how- 
ever, prevented their venturing ; nevertheless, it 
was no small evil to be roused as they were, often- 
times in the night, by the firing of cannon, and 
have to get up and make preparation for a remo- 
val to the country. General Barton, among oth- 
ers, secured a tenement in a farm-house about ten 
miles out, where he carried his wife and children, 
before he returned to the encampment. 

On the 27th, Congress voted him an elegant 
sword, in acknowledgment of his capture of Gen. 
Prescott, and sent him a vote of thanks for that 
important service. Important it was on many ac- 
counts. It had a tendency to excite in a high de- 
gree, the enthusiasm of the people to convince 
them that their foes in this quarter were not in- 
vincible, and to humble the arrogance of our neigh- 
bors at Newport. 

After his return to Tiverton, Colonel Barton 
could not be satisfied to sit down in inglorious in- 
activity, and some more deserters Vv^ho shortly 
came to his camp, communicated intelligence that 
persuaded him to undertake one more exploit of 
bravery. He discovered that the treasure of the 
b* 



66 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

British, their funds, &c., was kept in a house in 
Newport, on the main street in the southerly part 
of the town, called the Malbone house, (\vhich is 
now standing,) and that it was very carelessly 
guarded. 

To have surprised one of their ships, or opened 
one of their dungeons and set the prisoners free, 
would have been impossible ; but to effect the 
seizure of this treasure he believed practicable, 
and with the same company, he resolved to at- 
tempt it. He communicated his plan to them ; it 
was enthusiastically received, and the means of 
effecting it immediately concerted. 

The plot was this ; to start from the same point 
as before, and land below the town of Newport, 
just by where the new Fort Independence is now 
building, and to scatter from that point and all 
meet at such an hour appointed, at the back part 
of the Malbone house, which they conceived 
would be least guarded, rush into the house, se- 
cure the sentinels first, the inhabitants next, and 
then each man fill his sack ; for which purpose 
they had, each man, a sack provided, made of 
strong cloth. They were then to escape with it 
to the boat, before the military could be called out. 

Just as every thing was ready, they ascertained 
by their spies on the island, that the treasure was 
suddenly moved to the British encampment, and 
of course guarded by the troops. It is believed 
by persons now living, to whom General Barton 
communicated the particulars of his plan, that 
they would have succeeded if the enemy had not 
taken the wise policy of removing it to a place of 
safety. However, it w^as entirely frustrated by 
this movement. 

By what means they were informed in what 
part of the house the treasure was concealed, (if 
they were informed,) is not now known. The 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 67 

house where the treasure was then kept — for they 
several times removed it — was in the three story 
brick house on South Main-street, or Thames- 
street, as it is sometimes called, formerly belong- 
ing to Francis Malbone, Esq. Mr. Malbone was 
not a tory. If he had been perhaps his house 
might not have been used to quarter soldiers in. 
But two of his daughters married British officers. 
One of them married Earl Stanhope, who was 
then an officer on boarcl one of the British ships, 
and whose bust it is said still occupies a place over 
one of the mantle pieces in that house. A late 
painter, in repairing this house, supposing it to be 
the bust of General Washington, very unceremo- 
niously daubed it with an American uniform. We 
had the curiosity as a matter of speculation to go 
over the old house the other day, and were very 
politely aided by the present tenants, a family 
from New- York, in the examination ; and we 
must say we think it singularly and happily con- 
structed for such a purpose, viz. the concealment 
of treasure. The numerous closets, store-rooms, 
and cupboards, from the garret to the cellar, might 
almost hide an army. The cellars, particularly, 
seem as though built for that object, otherwise it 
is difficult to conceive what some of those curious 
depositories could have been meant for. We ob- 
served that although the broad hall or entry 
which extends quite through each story, and has 
a spacious staircase up one ffight, has none con- 
necting the two upper ones, but only a little wind- 
ing stair from a very dark entry, opening into the 
great one, and we should think would puzzle a 
philosopher to find in the night ; so that if the 
treasure had chanced to be in the third story, 
there would have been time one would think to 
muster the whole British army, before it could 
have been removed. Nevertheless, through means 



eS LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

of spies it might have been known exactly where 
it was. And besides, Yankees are marvellously 
cute (as one of them observed) about ferreting out 
such things. 

There is an anecdote connected with the histo- 
ry of Earl Stanhope, whose bust figures here, and 
who was said to be an inferior looking person, 
that deserves to be recorded. He was in one of 
the ships in the squadron of Wallace which lay 
off the harbor of Newport at the commencement 
of the war, and the suspicion of the inhabitants 
had been excited that certain persons from that 
squadron were concerned in the riots which al- 
most nightly occurred on the Point, in a cluster of 
delapidated buildings inhabited by some of the 
most dissolute outcasts of society. 

Several of the neighbors, seconded by the civil 
authority, at length agreed to watch, in order to 
secure the persons of their visiters if possible. 
It was not long before the veritable Lord Stan- 
hope was taken and put in close custody. Upon 
discovering the rank of their prisoner, they imme- 
diately conveyed him to a distance, and for some 
time he was a prisoner in one of the northern 
towns of the State, from which place he contrived 
to run away, and taking his course in a south- 
easterly direction. He at length brought up at 
Swanzey, from which place he one day employed 
a man to take him down the river in a boat, and 
after getting round into the bay, compelled him to 
carry "him to one of the British ships. The man, 
who had no disposition to obey, yet from moment- 
ary fear of a pistol ball through his head, conclu- 
ded to carry him, upon the promise of not being 
made a prisoner of war. True to his word, which 
was rare honor in those days towards a rebel, 
Stanhope not only suffered him to return, but gave 
him his purse on parting. He was afterwards at- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 59 

tached to the fleet that brought Prescott and his 
forces to Newport, and was the person who con- 
veyed the intelligence of the arrival of the French 
fleet, to General Clinton at New-York. The town 
was so closely watched it was not thought possi- 
ble by the British to convey the intelligence out 
of the harbor. But Stanhope hired one Joseph 
Durfee to take him on in a small boat, and they 
arrived safely at New-York, and gave the first no- 
tice. For this act he was subsequently rewarded 
by having the command of a ship. It was said to 
be the only enterprise he ever attempted. 



CHAPTER III. 



In the course of the winter, General Barton 
received his commission of Brevet Colonel from 
Congress, and that removed him from a situation 
where he had been most singularly useful in more 
respects than one, and not the least perhaps in 
succoring the distressed inhabitants of Newport. 

Numerous families arrived in Providence during 
this winter, in a state of the most lamentable des- 
titution, and a regular subscription was got up ev- 
ery week in Providence, and in the neighboring 
States, for their relief. One hundred barrels of 
beef from the farmers in Connecticut arrived, and 
meal, potatoes, and other articles continued to ar- 
rive, and clothing in abundance, and yet it ap- 
peared as if many did actually suffer, notwith- 
standing all this charity. 



70 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

Upon receiving his commission in the United 
States army, Colonel Barton left the fort as we 
observed, and returned to Providence. The army 
beiner provided with officers, he was not immedi- 
ately needed in actual service, therefore he had 
an opportunity to see to the affairs of his family. 
He hastened to remove his wife and children to 
Providence again, where, for the winter, at least, 
they felt secure, as the harbor was generally fro- 
zen over during most of that season. 

The new commission made no difference in the 
views of Colonel Barton, as it respected his em- 
ployment. He went immediately to work in his 
hatter's shop, and devoted all the time that could 
be spared from the increasing cares of his family, 
to his occupation, awaiting, though, with some in- 
terest, the moment when he might again be re- 
manded to serve his country. 

1778. Deserters from the British camp at New- 
port, continued to arrive almost daily. Money 
had been forwarded from England to pay off their 
soldiers, and the Hessians who came np and sur- 
rendered themselves to the Americans, stated that 
great dissatisfaction existed in their corps on ac- 
count of their demands ; that an immense remit- 
tance had just arrived, and the officers, after help- 
ing themselves and taking what they thought fit 
for service money, paid them only Jive coppers each 
soldier, to whom two or three years' arrearages 
were due. They said there were more than one 
hundred who knew of their intention to escape, 
and who were ready to follow them the first op- 
portunity. 

On the 24th of June, two gentlemen, officers on 
board the Lark frigate, made their escape, by go- 
ing ashore at Newport and purchasing a boat to 
take a sail. Thomas Gates was acting Lieuten- 
ant, and Doctor Henry Stephens, Surgeon. They 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 71 

were both gentlemen of the highest respectabil- 
ity, who had been in his Majesty's service some 
years, but had become so wearied and disgusted 
with the cruelties practised by the British recently, 
that they resolved to abandon them for ever. Of 
course, they were received with open arms by the 
people of Providence. Dr. Stephens immediately 
entered the army as surgeon and physician. The 
hospital at Providence was then in the College, 
where Dr. Stephens took up his abode. His gen- 
tlemanly deportment, humanity, and critical know- 
ledge of his profession, is still distinctly remem- 
bered by some of the oldest inhabitants of Provi- 
dence. Of the fortunes of Lieutenant Gates, we 
are ignorant. 

On the 9th, the cowardly attack upon Fall Riv- 
er was made, which ended only with bringing off 
one prisoner, Richard Borden, and the loss of sev- 
eral little bridges, which the Americans who were 
there destroyed themselves, to prevent their get- 
ting to the mill. They burnt the house of Thom- 
as Borden, and then retreated precipitately to the 
boats, leaving one man of their party dead on the 
ground, and another wounded who died next day, 
and losing two more, who were killed in repassing 
Bristol ferry, by a chain shot, from the American 
fort on the north side. Enraged at the little suc- 
cess they had met with in this quarter, and at be- 
ing repulsed by a little handful of the inhabitants, 
for they had no soldiers in the place nor nearer 
than the fort at Tiverton, (and they were awak- 
ened to defend themselves in the dead of the 
night,) the British at Nev/port resolved to go bet- 
ter prepared next time, and if possible to wipe off 
the disgrace of being repulsed and beaten off b}^ 
three or four old men and a company of boys, 
and the whole only twenty-five, were the defend- 
ers of Fall River. Accordingly they fitted out a 



72 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

company of six hundred men, commanded by suit- 
able officers, and despatched them to the east side 
of Narragansett Bay, in the night of the 27th, just 
eighteen days after the attack upon Fall River. 

Although the destruction of the shipping at 
Kickemuit was a great object, it appears there 
was a pique of some standing against the port of 
Bristol. The British at Newport, had been for some 
time so much exasperated against them, that they 
refused to receive any communications through 
that source in the exchange of prisoners ; they 
had to be sent some round-about way, as no flag 
from Bristol was received. The reason given by 
Lord Percy respecting the insolence of Mr. West 
and General Varnum, is not very clear. The fol- 
lowing letter found among the papers of Governor 
Bradford, and written some months before, merely 
proves the fact, but does not explain the nature 
of the offence. 

"Newport, April 8th, 1777. 

Sir — I received your letter of the 6th, by the 
flag of truce which brought Mrs. Paine from Bris- 
tol, and should have sent you immediately an an- 
swer to the same place had not the unprovoked 
impertinence of Messrs. West and Varnum obliged 
me to put a total stop to all flags of truce coming 
from Bristol or Tiverton. I have therefore been 
under the necessity of sending this to Updike's, 
Newtown, as well as Mrs. Stacy and her children, 
and shall send the other ladies you mention in 
your letter, as soon as they come to this island, 
for be assured, sir, it will give me pleasure to 
oblige you personally, from whom I have always 
received that attention and civility which persons 
who are really gentlemen will ever show each 
other. 

You will please to direct that the ladies be sent 
from any place except Bristol or Tiverton, for 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 73 

whilst Mr. West and Mr. Varnum remain there, I 
shall permit no communication with either of the 
above places. This, sir, you must be sensible can 
be no inconvenience to me, or the .troops under 
my command, as we have neither relations, friends 
or acquaintance on the continent. How far it 
may be to the inhabitants, who may perhaps wish 
to hear sometimes from their friends, I cannot 
tell ; but if it is they must thank those whose con- 
duct has occasioned it. Be assured, sir, no per- 
son wishes more than myself to alleviate the mis- 
eries of war as far as possible, and I am really 
sorry at being" thus prevented from granting those 
little indulgences which are generally allowable 
during such a period. 

Any request, sir, you are pleased to make me, 
which it is in my power to grant, I shall always 
with pleasure attend to, and am. 

Sir, your humble servt. 

PERCY. 

P. S. — Since writing the above, I have seen 
Mrs. Stacy, who informs me she cannot leave this 
place before Monday next. 

William Bradford, Esq. &c. &c. &c." 

This letter, addressed to William Bradford, Esq. 
and speaking of Mr. West and Mr. Varnum, in- 
stead of designating them by the title of the office 
they held in the State and the army, was written 
just three months before the capture of Prescott, 
and it is not to to be supposed the enemy were 
more conciliated by that event, although the burn- 
ing of Bristol, with the destruction of the boats at 
Kickemuit, did not occur until the following May. 

On the morning of the 28th, about break of day, 
the 600 men embarked on this undertaking, landed 
about a mile above the entrance to the harbor, 
7 



74 1-lFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

on the west side of Popasqiiash. They proceeded 
in an oblique direction until they gained the great 
road, about a mile and a half above the port of 
Bristol. Here they separated, one party taking 
the road to Warren, and the other going over to 
Kickemuit. 

The port of Bristol was the next object of their 
vengeance. The terrified inhabitants were obliged 
to see their dwellings in flames, and to find them- 
selves surrounded by a force they had no means 
of withstanding. On that dreadful night, eighteen 
of the handsomest dwelling-houses were destroy- 
ed, one of which was Governor Bradford's, the 
Deputy-Governor of Rhode-Island, also the Epis- 
copal Church, and Congregational meeting-house. 
The inhabitants were plundered of every thing 
valuable they could lay hands on. The females 
even had their clothes taken, all that were deemed 
of sufficient value to carry away, and their rings 
forced from their fingers. Even the colored wo- 
men were commanded to deliver up theirs, mostly 
brass. So grasping were these robbers, that the 
papers of that day state that they carried away a 
cargo of brass ornan>ents, plundered from the ser- 
vants of the different families. The sick were 
hastily removed from the place, and one or two 
were carried off* with other prisoners. 

It was subsequently ascertained that the devas- 
tation of Bristol might have been prevented by 
one field piece planted on the bridge at the north 
entrance of the village, as the orders of the Brit- 
ish were to avoid the entrance, if it was defended. 
The words were, " if any defence was attempt- 
ed," and re-embark at Popasquash. They had no 
field pieces with them, and but a handful of men, 
thereibre, might have defended the bridge. 

Nothing could surpass the consternation of Bris- 
tol when surprised by the entrance of the British. 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. tf, 

Whether they did not expect their return at all, 
or whether they expected them to re-embark at 
Popasquash, is not now known, but they seemed 
to be taken by surprise, and women and children 
were flying" in all directions. Near the centre oi 
the village there was a large house, owned by a 
Mrs. Usher, a tory lady, who invited the terrified 
females to take shelter under her roof. As " she 
was known to be their friend," she said, ''she 
should not be harmed." Many of the ladies 
crowded into her habitation, but when they saw 
it pillaged, their terror was redoubled. It was in 
vain that the mistress of the mansion welcomed 
the enemy, and assured them of her reliance on 
llieir honor. They pillaged it of every thing val- 
«iable, and held a bayonet to her breast, while 
they compelled her to deliver up every ornament 
about her person, and then set fire to her house 
over her head. 

Whether the old lady retained her loyalty after 
such a want of gallantry, we have not been able 
to ascertain. Those of the males who had re- 
mained to protect their familes, were seized as 
prisoners, and dragged off to the prison ships. 

Upon the first alarm, a despatch was sent off to 
Providence to General Sullivan, who was then 
there with his regiment, and likewise to Colonel 
Barton. It was about eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing when they got the intelligence. Colonel Bar- 
ton flew to the quarters of General Sullivan, and 
prepared to go on ahead with a few horsemen, to 
arouse the inhabitants along the road, and, if pos- 
sible, make a sortie before the arrival of General 
Sullivan. This proposal was instantly seconded 
and cheerfully acceded to by General Sullivan, 
and accompanied only by a few horsemen. Colonel 
Barton mounted his horse and galloped on towards 
W^arren. 



7o LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

Meanwhile the party of English and refugees 
proceeded to a place called Kickemuit, a place 
where there is a fine sheltered cove, with water 
of sufficient depth, and other conveniences for 
ship building. Here there were a number of flat 
bottomed boats building, and a large galley hauled 
up to repair. The boats they succeeded in de- 
stroying, but the galley was rescued. 

From thence they proceeded to Warren, burn- 
ing a windmill on their way, and plundering and 
destroying at every step. 

The loyal inhabitants of Barrington, and other 
places on the road between Providence and War- 
ren, eagerly joined the Colonel, and by the time 
he reached the town, he had collected quite a lit- 
tle force. The affrighted inhabitants of Warren 
were flying in every direction, and the columns of 
black smoke rising from their beautiful village, at- 
tested that their fears were not without founda- 
tion. The enemy were then in possession of 
Warren — Warren, the birth place of the Ger ral, 
the spot endeared to memory by all the mooi in- 
teresting associations. Hastily putting spurs to 
his horse, he outstript the speed of his followers, 
and arrived considerably in advance of them. The 
first of the enemy he discovered, was a miscreant 
with a firebrand in his hand, in the act of setting 
fire to the meeting-house. He sat up a tremen- 
dous hallo, and the fellow dropped it and fled. 
His men came up, and the enemy, hearing that a 
very large army was in their rear, commenced 
their retreat. 

A very curious anecdote is related of General 
Barton here, and as it is quite characteristic, no 
one that knew him will doubt it. The reader 
must excuse us for sometimes calling him Colo- 
nel, and then General. He was General of the 
Rhode-Island militia, and Colonel in the United 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 77 

-States service, or Brevet Colonel. Of course 
either title belonged to him. 

At the retreat of the British frotii Warren, the 
commanding officer in the expedition fell in with 
the hindmost, in order to conduct the retreat with 
as much decency as possible, and Colonel Barton 
hailed him. calling him a coward, and daring 
him to come out and fight him in single combat. 
"Come back, you d — d coward !" vociferated the 
Colonel. " I am the man who took Prescott, and 

by , if you will just step out of your lurking 

place, I '11 hack you to pieces in less time than it 
took to take him." The story is too well authen- 
ticated to admit of a doubt, and it has been con- 
firmed by his own lips. The injury done to War- 
ren was trifling in comparison to the injuries in- 
flicted on Bristol. In fact, the inhabitants being 
apprized of their danger, had a chance to remove 
most of their valuable effects. Some few dwell- 
ing-houses were burned, one meeting-house, and 
some stores and out-buildings, together with a 
wind-mill, and some booty was carried away. 

All the way down an incessant firing was kept 
up on both sides, and although they could not tell 
how many were wounded, yet the blood in the 
road gave evidence that there must have been a 
considerable number. The little force of Colonel 
Barton continued to harass their rear, and the en- 
emy's shot was continually flying around them, 
yet they escaped almost miraculously, until just 
down by Popasquash. Popasquash Point is a small 
peninsula, extending directly in front of the har- 
bor of Bristol. It contains probably about 200 
acres, and is laid out in beautiful farms, and is 
connected with Bristol by a causeway or neck of 
Jand extending across the north end of the harbor. 

The papers of that dav state that the enemy 

7* 



7S LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

were taken off Bristol ferry, and other accounts 
say off Popasquash Point, which is erroneous. It 
is certain they made a halt just here, and Colonel 
Barton observing one of his company seemed to 
falter, struggling with all his might to get for- 
ward and make one onset, Barton, who observed 
it, raised himself in his stirrups, and looking round, 
shook his sword at him with a menacing air. 
Just at that moment a bullet from the enemy en- 
tered his right thigh, just above the knee, and 
glancing upwards lodged in the right hip. The 
Colonel never communicated the disaster, until 
the army were fairl}^ out of the village of Bristol. 
He kept his seat until then, although the world 
swam before his eyes, and the first thing he said 
when he communicated it, was to thank the per- 
son, whose cowardly movement he said had saved 
his life, as, if he had been in the saddle, the bullet 
must have entered his vitals. 

Captain Westcott was on Popasquash Point, and 
himself and nine privates were secured by the 
British, and carried off prisoners in their boats. 
Unfortunately General Sullivan did not arrive with 
his forces, time enough to cut off their retreat. 

The particulars of this skirmish, were related 
by one Nathaniel Elliot, a native of Woodstock, 
Con., who was an eye and an ear witness of the 
whole, and had himself a part in the contest. 

Lieutenant Elliot, lived to the age of ninety two, 
and enjoyed a pension under government ; he had 
received, I think, some wounds in the service. 
His death is of recent occurence ; and took place 
in Providence, where he spent the last few years 
of his life with his descendants. He had a won- 
derful memory, and having served the whole seven 
year's war, was a living chronicle of the olden 
times. 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 70 

Colonel Barton was carried to a neig-hboring- 
house, where the bullet was extracted by Doctor 
Winslow and Governor Bradford ; and as soon as 
practicable, he was brought in a litter to Provi- 
dence. The bullet taken from the side of the 
Colonel, is still preserved in his family, and was 
handed to the author by the feeble hands of her, 
the partner of his bosom, who once, in the prime 
of youth and pride of beauty, buckled the sword 
hilt to his waist. 

A long" and tedious illness was the consequence 
of this wound. For three months the Colonel kept 
his bed. A lingering fever, occasioned by his suf- 
ferings, set in, and for some time his life was in 
imminent danger. During his confinement, an- 
other son, called Daniel, was born to him. 

Encouraged, probably, by the marauding expe- 
dition against Bristol and Warren, the enemy 
shortly after made another feint of coming up the 
river ; and the terrified inhabitants were roused 
at midnight by the firing, to leave their beds and 
prepare for flight. The family of General Barton 
were in no condition for a removal ; but Mrs. Bar- 
ton was summoned upon the first alarm, to go 
down to her husband. Colonel Talbot, a most es- 
timable officer in the army, was then watching 
with him. His wife found him, for the first time 
since his illness, sitting up in his bed. He was 
storming and raging in great agitation, that he 
could not go out to fight the enemy. The idea of 
leaving him in his present situation, was not to be 
borne ; and to stay with her terrified children, and 
risk to herself the horrors of a battle, should the 
British succeed in getting up ; or to be shut up 
in a town bombarded by the enemy, was equally 
repugnant to her feelings. But her mind was hap- 
pily relieved by a message from General Sullivan, 
which just then arrived, telling them, 



80 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

think of removing- unless there was real dang-er^ 
in which case, they should have the earlist in- 
formation respecting the means ; as he would im- 
mediately send a continental wagon to carry them 
safely ; that let what would be, they should be 
cared for first." The firing did not come near 
enough to injure the town, and after harassing 
the inhabitants as long as it would be safe, the 
shipping of the enemy moved down the river 
again. The alarm had no other effect that time, 
than to put every cart, truck, and conveyance of 
every sort, in requisition, and causing a great deal 
of property to be transported into the country. 

In what manner the affair of the capture of Pres- 
cott was narrated in the English papers, or in 
those published in New-York by the tories and 
refugees, is not now known, but if it came as 
near the truth as their description of the battle of 
Bunker Hill, and the other transactions of the war, 
it must have been at least, an amusing story. It 
is scarce credible at this day, that the English 
government could have been deceived by the re- 
ports which their papers of that day asserted were 
made of battles fought in America, in which they 
always came off conquerors, of prisoners taken, 
(and always treated them with the greatest hu- 
manity,) of daily and immense accessions of 
strength, from the disaffected inhabitants of the 
States, and all the other ingenious lies, devised to 
blind the public mind to their defeats and disgrace, 
and inhumanities. 

Papers were weekly published in New-York, de- 
tailing the accounts pretended to be received of- 
ficially, of the immense forces coming over in the 
spring, or autumn, or whatever the approaching 
season chanced to be. It is confidently^believed 
by many, that if all the forces they boasted from 
time to time were coming over, were added to- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 81 

gether, their numbers would have exceeded the 
whole population of England, Scotland and Ire- 
land. One of their reports in an English paper 
published in London, in detailing the affair of Bun- 
ker Hill, boasted of slaying more of the Americans 
than were actually engaged in the contest, by 
several hundred, and taking prisoners beside to 
the number of 25,000, among whom, they said, 
were Putnam and Lee. 

One very favorite topic at that time, was the 
dissentions in Congress, which they frequently as- 
serted had arisen to such a height, that they al- 
most daily received letters from the members, 
asking them if it would be possible, on their re- 
cantation, for the government of Great-Britain to 
receive them as loyal subjects. Sometimes they 
would state their names, just to excite disaffec- 
tion, or sew the seeds of jealousy. At one time 
they put out handbills from New-York, and circu- 
lated them through the British camp, probably to 
reassure their soldiers, that General Washington 
had suddenly died, at such a place ; telling the 
disease he died with, and enumerating the circum- 
stances of his death. One very singular circum- 
stance about this was, that they mentioned the 
very same disease the General actually died of, 
many years after, viz. the quinsy. Whether they 
had the spirit of prophesy, we cannot say. In de- 
rision of the plan of American Independence, they 
undertook in one of their papers to give a descrip- 
tion of the United States, in the year 1840, pur- 
porting to be a Boston paper of that date, and 
though in derision, it is certainly, with very few 
exceptions, a most complete and just representa- 
tion of what the country is now. We have once 
seen this curious publication, and with the excep- 
tion of the king and titled gentry, we should say 
it comes very near the truth, and verifies the say- 



82 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

ing- of " many true words spoken in jest." The 
splendor of our cities, the great number of our lit- 
erary and public institutions of every description, 
the large assemblage of foreign ambassadors, the 
great influx of foreigners of distinction continually 
flocking into the country, the vast settlements of 
the west, the wealth and resources of the coun- 
try, and her friendship courted by every nation, 
though all described in the most bombastic and 
hyperbolical style, was nevertheless true to the 
life, and has more than been realized in every 
particular save one, that of the settlements, which 
ihey describe as extending to the J\*orthwest Coast. 

Every few days their papers would state, thaJ. 
two or three members of our Congress had ran 
Qway, and come to their camp to seek shelter from 
the vengeance of the rebels. Our revered Chief, 
they uniformly designated in all their communi- 
cations, official or otherwise, as " Mister Washing- 
ton." Doctor Franklin, they stated, while he was 
at the French court, '' had denounced all ideas of 
our succeeding in the Utopian scheme of indepen- 
dence, and regretted exceedingly he had ever sup- 
posed it possible," &c. In fine, there were no end 
to their falsehoods. The tories in our cities and 
towns, conveyed all papers calculated to sow the 
seeds of suspicion and disaffection in our ranks, 
privately to the American camp and elsewhere, 
and in fact the arch deciever of mankind was 
never more fully employed than during thjit sea- 
sou. 

The Americans were accused in their reports lo 
their government of exercising cruelty towards 
their prisoners, and their own humanity loudly in- 
sisted on. The utter falsehood of this, they must 
have known, as now and then some one of their 
own officers, disgusted with their cruelty, would 
apprize the government of what was going on 



LIFE OF GENERAL BAfiTON. 83 

Letters were sent repeatedly by officers in the 
American army to those in the British, complain- 
ing ol* the multiplied barbarities, and inordinate 
cruelty of their soldiers and under officers, but it 
produced no eftect except as they would occasion- 
ally hear that said offenders were advanced in the 
army. But we are digressing, and must hasten 
back to the State of Rhode-Island, and most fer- 
vently do we wish, that it were in our power to 
give in detail a history of all the skirmishes and 
manoeuvres, carried on in Narragansett bay alone, 
for although it would fill a volume of itself alone, 
yet would the pleasure of the perusal fully re- 
compense the trouble of it. Perhaps there was 
nothing so much annoyed the enemy in Rhode- 
Island at this period, as the constant ingress and 
egress of tiie privateers from Providence, Bristol, 
Warren, Greenwich, Wickford, and even from the 
little village of Pawtuxet, through Narragansett 
bay. In vain was the harbor of Newport recon- 
noitred by their shipping, with the greater part 
of the bay itself ; in vain was every port north of 
Newport declared in a state of strict blockade, in 
vain did they drive the peaceable inhabitants of 
Conanicut and the neighboring islands from their 
habitations by fire and sword, and establish an 
armed force there. Do what they would, the vil- 
lanous privateers, and their subtle commanders, 
would find their way through in safety, and prize 
after prize continued to come up the river tri- 
umphantly, even under the very guns of their 
forts, and within hail of their ships. 

As we were then so very destitute of ships of 
war, the principal annoyance of the enemy on our 
coast, was from privateers, and of these it would 
be highly interesting to give some little history of 
those belonging to our State alone, but they were 
so very numerous ii woxiki be impossible wiihin 



84 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

the limits of this work, and among so many brave 
and successful ones, almost invidious to name a 
few ; yet Rhode-Island will long* remember the 
names of Hopkins, Whipple, Chace, Cahoone, 
Arnold, Read, Greene, Allen, Grimes, Pearce, 
Gardner, Dennis, Gadney, Simmons, Stacy, Bent- 
ley, Jeffers, Coggeshall, Finch, Jaques, Phillips, 
Burroughs, Murphy, Freeborn, Ladd, Sheffield, 
and Gazee, together vi^ith that renowned com- 
mander, John Paul Jones, v^ho figured alternately 
in privateers and ships of war, and v^hose deeds 
of enterprise and daring appear almost beyond be- 
lief, so that many have considered the history of 
his life as a romance from beginning to end. Ne- 
vertheless, nothing is better authenticated than 
the history of his adventurous life. 

It was a source of great regret to Colonel Bar- 
ton, that the effect of his wound and long illness 
prevented active duty on the following year. He 
was not able to join the expedition of General Sul- 
livan to Rhode-Island, when he went with the 
understanding of a co-operation with the Count 
D'Estaing. But though not in active military du- 
ty at that time, the Colonel was appointed to sun- 
dry offices of honor and profit. He was a member 
of the Legislature from Providence, and received 
from the general government the office of inspect- 
or in the custom-house, which office he continued 
to hold during his residence in Providence ; and 
it has since been continued in his family. An an- 
ecdote is related of him while a member of the 
House of Representatives, of a very amusing 
character. It was shortly after the evacuation of 
Newport by the British, and while the Assembly 
was convened at Bristol. The French and Amer- 
icans were then very busy in fortifying the harbor 
of Newport, when the House was disturbed by an 
alarm gun from Newport. The whole two houses 



LIFE OF Gf-^Nl'JRAL BARTON. S5 

rose, of course, and every thing* was imniediato- 
ly in the greatest confusion. The telegraph an- 
nounced the want of men only. A large public 
building was at that time under way at Bristol, 
and many of the ruined buildings going up again. 
Of course Bristol was unusually full of artizans, 
as well as of persons who had business before the 
House. General Cornell, who had taken the 
command of the military force at Providence, im- 
mediately after the departure of General Sullivan, 
who was summoned upon a distant service, was 
then in Bristol, by direction of the Legislature. 
A body of men was collected on the spot and sent 
to the rescue. Most of them, 150 or 200 in num- 
ber, were volunteers. The carpenters and ma- 
sons to a man, it was said, laid down their tools 
and shouldered their muskets. There were four 
large whale boats lying there able to carry 100 
men, and they were soon filled. General Cornell 
went in the foremost one, Colonel Barton volun- 
teered to go in the next. Colonel Christopher 01- 
ney was appointed to conunand the third, and the 
author has forgotten the name of the fourth. A 
Captain Ebenezer Sprague, of Johnston, v/ished 
much to go in the fourth, being very anxious, as 
he said, to see a fight. He stated that he had been 
called to several posts of danger, Avith the expec- 
tation of seeing a battle, but had always been dis- 
appointed. He had once been to Block-Island to 
bring off some property, when Newport was taken, 
and to his great disappointnfent just escaped en- 
countering the enemy's forces ; and had once been 
out to assist a Captain Arnold, of Pawtuxet, who 
had got hemmed in between two British transports 
in Narragansett bay ; but the enemy instead of 
giving battle, he affirmed, ran away, and he was 
disappointed once more. Whether it was the hu- 
8 



f^Q LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

mor of the man, or from whatever impulse, as 
Spragiie affirmed, Colonel Barton had seen battle 
and he had not, the Colonel gave up his boat to 
Captain Sprague, and the four boats pushed off in 
the direction of Newport. 

The men, it appeared, were wanted to go off to 
the relief of a privateer shewing American colors, 
who was then manoeuvering to get into the har- 
bor of Newport, and was intercepted by a British 
armed brig of very superior force. She had been 
pursued almost into the harbor by one of about 
equal size, and had turned about and given her 
battle and succeeded in capturing her after a se- 
vere engagement, in which the privateer, although 
she had completely crippled her antagonist, had 
sustained very considerable damage herself, and 
lost several men and a large number wounded on 
board. In this situation she encountered the brig 
of twice her force, which had been reconnoitering 
without the harbor of Newport for several days, 
on the lookout for her. Nothing was left for the 
American Captain, but to elude her, and pass into 
the harbor of Newport, if possible. For six hours 
the gallant Captain had managed to keep his foe 
at bay, not being willing to be taken alive, just 
within sight of his own townsmen, hundreds of 
whom lined the shore and covered the hills with 
spy-glasses, anxious spectators of the scene. The 
bells were ringing in Newport, and guns constantly 
firing from the forts ; but they could not be brought 
to bear upon the eneniy. Loud shouts rent the 
air when the Bristol force appeared coming round 
Coaster's Harbor ; and as they went out the har- 
bor, protected by the guns of the fort, and waving 
their flags, (of which tradition says they had about 
a score,) the salute was returned with interest. 

Their design was to reach the Rochambeau, for 
this they perceived it to be, and then act under 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 87 

the direction of Captain Read. Or, if unable to 
effect that, to separate, and then close around the 
brig, and board her, if possible. They had no 
chance, however, as the enemy did not wait their 
approach, but drew off in such haste as to leave 
her prize, whicli she had retaken, and which was 
now carried triumphantly into Newport, Captain 
Sprague mourning all the way, that there had 
been no fighting. As night was approaching, it 
was possible the privateer, favored by the dark- 
ness, might have succeeded in eluding the enemy 
and got into port without the help of the company 
from Bristol, but she must have lost her prize. 

They all, doubtless, felt well satisfied with their 
bloodless victory, except Colonel Barton's repre- 
sentative, who could not be made to believe it was 
any thing but his ill luck that prevented a fight. 
And he affirmed to the end of his days, that if 
Colonel Barton had gone in his stead they might 
have had a chance for a lew shot, but it was his 
fate. The whole account of this, the author had 
from the moulli of Captain Sprague himself. 

It appears that Colonel Barton, aggravated by 
the continual alarms, at Providence, and enor- 
mities committed on the shores and islands of 
Narragansett bay, asked and obtained of the Le- 
gislature of the State of Rhode-Island, the com- 
mand of a few boats for the defence of the coast 
in this region, but we have no particular account 
of any captures, or skirmishes with the enemy in 
that service though how much evil he might be 
the means of preventing we cannot now ascertain. 
For ourselves we think the glory of preventing 
any evil, is greater, than revenging it afterwards. 

In the spring of 1 781 , a part of the Rhode-Island 
regiment, were ordered to the western part of 
New-York, for a reinforcement of the main army. 
Whether Colonel Barton was then engaged in his 



8g LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

nautical expedition, or for what reason we cannot 
say, but the part of the regiment on that fatal oc- 
casion, was commanded by Colonel Christopher 
Greene, and Major Ebenezer Flagg. They were 
surprised by a party of Delancy's regiment of ref- 
ugees, at Pine bridge, near Crotoii. About forty 
of them were killed on the spot, a number wound- 
ed, who afterwards perished by British cruelty, 
and the rest, except a fev/ who escaped, made 
prisoners. Among the prisoners were Colonel 
Greene and Major Fiagg, Lieutenant Ebenezer 
Macomber, of Providence, and Ensign Greenough. 
These were destined to witness cruelties almost 
too horrible to mention. The terrified inhabitants, 
women and children of the neighborhood, had re- 
treated into their houses where they were fired 
upon by the remorseless ruflians, killing the inno- 
cent and defenceless ; and horrible to tell, the 
wounded left on the field, were cut to pieces by 
these demons in human form. 

It was a singular thing through the whole war 
that the tories or refugees were the most ad o in 
the shocking cruelties practiced, of any of his 
Majesty's friends, a sure proof that when a man 
has so far conquered all feelings of patriotism and 
love of country as to league with her ememies, 
Satan has no work too black for him to engage in. 
We could in this place digress to give a list of 
names engaged in these atrocities, aside from Ben- 
edict Arnold, that would astonish our readers, of 
names that would be deservedly consigned to end- 
less infamy, but we do not wish to wound the 
feelings of the living. Many of these wretches 
Imve descendants now living in our country, that 
are of a different stamp from their progenitors, and 
many of them, we grieve to say, have perpetuated 
their principles in their descendants. Hence the 
hatred to every thing connected with republican- 



LIFE OF GRNKRAL BARTON. 89 

ism in a certain class in our country ; the ridicu- 
lous aping" of every thing appertaining- to rank, or 
in other words, nobility. The extravagant enco- 
fiiiums of every thing* English, and the epithet of 
'' our gallant foes," whenever they are constrained 
to speak of the English as opposed to us ; and all 
that fulsome rodomontade that makes every fash- 
ionable party so infinitely disgusting and supreme- 
ly ridiculous to persons of sense, of reason, and of 
principle. 

We do not wish that individual or national ani- 
mosities should be cherished ; we believe in the 
excellence of the precept that enjoins the duty, 
"if thine enemy hunger, ^eed him; and if he 
thirst, give him drink." But we think this the 
extent of the command. And we do not para- 
phrase it thus. " If the enemies of thy country and 
thy family, those who have butchered in cold blood 
and loaded their prisoners with fetters and with 
stripes, prosper in the earth, take thou them to 
thy bosom ; praise, flatter, exalt them ; seek to 
justify them when they inflict the same abuses 
upon others ; imitate their manners, and teach 
thine offspring to reverence their name," &c. 

But we are digressing, and must return, to say 
that among the unhappy prisoners destined to 
witness the atrocities at Pine Bridge, there were 
two who determined to escape or perish in the 
attempt. They were Lieutenant, afterwards Co- 
lonel Ebenezer Macomber and Ensign Greenough, 
who effected it at the risk of their lives, and who, 
by dint of starvation, sleeping in the woods nights 
and other hardships, made out to reach Rhode- 
Island in safety, and brought the news of the 
-^laughter and imprisonment of their brethren. 

Colonel Macomber twice escaped after being 
taken prisoner by the British. Once after a skir- 
8* 



90 ^-IFE OF GP:NERA.L BARTON. 

rnish with the enemy in tlie depths of winter, he 
with a number of others escaped ; they fled many 
miles, and at length, worn out with fatigue took 
shelter in a wood, and rested for the night. Dur- 
ing the night a deep snow fell, and when their 
active leader aroused them on the dawn, with the 
blast of a trumpet, each one as they arose shook 
the white fleeces from their garments, and some 
of them, so benumbed and bewildered by the 
death-like sleep they had yielded too, thought it 
was the resurrection, and that they were aroused 
by the blast of the last trumpet. 

It was in allusion to this, probably, and some 
other fatal encounters, where a part of the regi- 
ment of Rhode-Island was engaged, that Colonel 
Barton made the remark, '-that lie had but just 
escaped in several instances during the war ; an 
exposure that in ninety-nine chances out of a hun- 
dred, would have been fatal ; but from some un- 
foreseen occurrence, or singular providence, he 
had been prevented from being engaged in it." 
There were certainly some very singular things in 
his life, and it was a curious circumstance, after 
the evacuation of Newport, one of the first prizes 
brought into port was by the "William Barton," 
a new brig called after the Colonel, and command- 
ed by Captain Bishop, of Providence. 

It is worthy of remark that Colonel Barton con- 
tinued to the end of the war to exert himself in 
some way or other for the relief of the distressed 
inhabitants of the captured towns, and those who 
had had their property destroyed in our vicinity, 
and particularly for the enlargement of captured 
Americans, suffering in British prison ships, and 
confined in other places; his attempts were often, 
and indeed almost always rendered abortive by 
the manoeuvres of the British, who seemed to take 
a very peculiar pleasure in thwarting the efforts 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 91 

tjf individuals for the exchange of their friends, by 
changing about from place to place; and in the in- 
stance of Lieutenant John Vial, of Johnston, who 
was taken in Connecticut while on his way to 
Providence with several others to join General 
Sullivan; and whom no persuasions would induce 
the British to exchange, until after the capture of 
Burgoyne's army, when he was wanted to make 
up a number to send by cartel in exchange for 
some of similar rank. For eight weeks they con- 
tinued to hurry this poor man from prison to prison, 
waiting, as they said, "for a suitable opportunity 
to try and hang him for treason;" he having once 
been imprest into their service. It was in vain 
that the Colonel and others sent on documents to 
prove his parentage, &c., and the fact of his being 
taken in Boston harbor, and compelled into the 
British service. His exchange could not be ef- 
fected until after the capture of so large a force, 
when it suited their convenience to exchange him. 

To attempt something for the release of this un- 
fortunate man and his companions, while they 
were confined in a prison ship in the harbor of 
Newport, was a subject of much meditation and 
consultation with Colonel Barton, but the attempt 
was deemed by every one but himself, so imprac- 
ticable, that it was never attempted. 

The trials and hardships of this singularly un- 
fortunate, and brave man, were so great, that we 
cannot pass by the opportunity of giving a short 
sketch of his eventful life, which the writer of this 
narrative took down from his own lips while he 
lay on a sick bed, and very shortly before his 
death. The writer called with several others, at 
his own request to take the sacrament with him, 
and afterwards remained and took down the nar- 
rative of his sufferings, with a view, should she 



92 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

survive him, of having something done for his des- 
titute v^idow and child. 

Lieutenant John Vial, was born in Johnston, on 
the 12th of May, 1756. He became an orphan, 
doubly so, while an infant, by losing both his pa- 
rents, and was brought up among strangers, in 
the family of a farmer, and worked on a farm until 
the Revolutionary War commenced. In the be- 
ginning of the troubles at Boston, he foresaw what 
was going to happen, and resolved to devote him- 
self to his country. He first enlisted at Cambridge 
in the company of Colonel Hitchcock, and fought 
in the battle of Bunker Hill. Though very much 
exposed and engaged in the heat of the contest, 
he escaped injury. At the expiration of his term 
of eight months, he concluded to go to sea; hav- 
ing a particular liking to a sailor's life, and think- 
ing he could fight on the water as well as on land, 
he went to Plymouth and engaged in a privateer, 
but was captured soon after in Boston Bay and 
brought in there, and then sent with a number of 
other prisoners to England. It w^as in the month 
of January, confined in a noisome hole, deprived 
of warmth, of air and exercise, and almost of food, 
the poor young man sunk under his sufferings, and * 
upon his arrival in England, had to be sent to a 
hospital; here, owing to a remarkably good con- 
stitution, he recovered, and as soon as he was able 
to do duty, put on board a 74 which was about to 
convoy a fleet to Halifax. Upon his arrival there, 
the 74, (which is believed to have been the Lark 
frigate, afterwards stationed at Newport,) was 
ordered to New-York to convoy some victuallers. 
While at New-York, Mr. Vial contrived to escape 
in one of the boats, and get safely on Long Island. 
Having become acquainted with the watchword 
of the night, he passed the guards in safety; and 
after traveling all night, be stopped at a farmer's 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 93 

:and solicited work, but was unsuccessful. A 
Quaker family gave him a breakfast, and a man 
at the farmer's handed him a dollar. The snow 
was very deep, but he proceeded on his journey, 
through a wood to a miller's house to get employ: 
here he was again unsuccessful, and had to keep 
on. The next place he stopped at was a tory's ; 
they would not take him in and told him to go to 
tlie tavern and get his lodging. This was indeed, 
very fortunate ; the tavern-keeper was a secret 
friend to the rebel cause, as they called it, and 
concealed him a w^eek, with the hope of Conveying 
him away; but not being able to effect it with safe- 
ty, he sent him in a cart to the other end of the 
island to a miller's, where he was kindly enter- 
tained and directed to a house in the next village, 
to get a chance. There was no one at home, but 
a poor woman who kept school hard by, received 
him into her room, directed him to a man who 
would carry him over to Saybrook in a boat; and 
taking her little supper of hot cakes, from the fire, 
thrust them into his pocket, and bade him depart, 
before she was suspected. Cold, exhausted and 
forlorn, he turned from her door, and wandered 
on, when, meeting a kind countryman, he ventur- 
ed to disclose his situation, and was immediately 
taken on his horse and carried home. From 
thence, the man took him on the following night 
and skulled him over to Saybrook (Con.) Here, 
<3elivering himself up to the American force sta- 
tioned there, he was examined by a council of 
war, and b.y them assisted to get back once more 
to Providence. 

He fought at the battle of Rhode-Island, in Sul- 
livan's expedition, and was left on the island by 
mistake. Being on the piquet guard, they forgot 
to notify him at the retreat, and he fell into the 
hands of the British, and was kept for a time in 



94 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

one of the prison ships laying* in the harbor of 
Newport. 

He once more entered the army, and received 
an ensign's commission in Colonel Israel Angell's 
regiment, which was then ordered to Red Bank to 
reinforce General Washington. From thence he 
went with Major-General Thayer's division to 
garrison Mud Fort. During the hot contest there, 
which it w^ill be recollected was one of the fiercest 
in that region, or even during the war, Mr. Vial 
had his hat shot off his head, by a cannon ball. 
Afterwards he was again ordered to Red Bank, 
soon after which he was sent out with two others 
to reconnoiter the enemy. While on this service, 
his horse was shot from under him, and one of the 
three. Captain Clark, being unable to extricate 
himself from his horse, which was also shot, was 
taken prisoner. Mr. Vial and the other escaped. 
Mr. Vial fought in the battle of Red Bank, where 
his commander, Capt. Shaw, of Newport, Rhode- 
Island, was killed. He says, the British, in this 
attack, fought us 43 minutes, and we beat them 
off. The ground was covered with the slain. W^e 
had, he says, 15 killed and IT wounded. Finding 
General Clinton was coming on with his forces, 
they then evactuated the fort, and passed over 
into Pennsylvania to effect a junction again with 
the main army, under Washington. They then 
marched to a place called Hickory Hill ; the enemy 
went out of Philadelphia to attack them, but aban- 
doned it, without coming to battle. They then 
crossed the Schuylkill and retreated to a wood, 
where they had to take up their lodging for the 
night, cold and half starved. To add to their dis- 
tress, a heavy snow tell during the night ; and in 
the morning, three of them were sent out to pro- 
cure food. They were refused it, and had to for- 
age ; shooting some sheep and chickens, and car- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. tjri 

ryin^ them back, wlicre they were immediately 
cooked and eaten without salt. He afterwardt* 
went into winter quarters with the main army at 
Valley Forge, where they suftered much, as is 
well remembered ; it being what was emphatic- 
ally called the hard winter, and the army poorly 
provided with clothing, and a great part of the 
time food difficult to obtain. 

Mr. Vial afterwards fought at the battle of Mon> 
mouth, and for his bravery on that occasion, was 
promoted to a lieutenancy. After the battle of 
Monmouth he was sent to Rhode-Island, to join 
the forces under General Sullivan, and was again 
taken prisoner on the way. The hardships of his 
iare during the eight weeks, before mentioned, 
impaired his health so much, that upon his ex- 
change, he threw up his commission and left the 
army. Upon the partial recovery of his health, 
he resolved to perfect it by going on the water. 
He accordingly engaged in a privateer belonging 
to John Brown, of Providence, and after a success- 
ful cruise, returned ; and he again went out in 
one belonging to Welcome Arnold, of Providence. 
This was captured on the coast of South-Carolina, 
and Mr. Vial, with thirteen others, were set adrift 
on the wide ocean in a little open boat, without 
any provisions, or any means of helping them- 
selves whatever. Providence, however, watched 
over them, and they were driven on shore on a 
plantation not far from Charleston. The planter 
received them kindly ; and after a few days, man- 
aged to procure them a conveyance to Rhode-Is- 
land. A second time Mr. Vial embarked in a ves- 
sel belonging to Welcome Arnold ; and was again 
taken and carried into New-York. He did not fare 
so well this time ; being imprisoned in that horri- 
ble place, on board the old Jersey prison-ship, and 
confined there three months. He was then ex- 



<)G LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

chano-ed, and got to New-London, tlie wreck of 
a man, a mere skeleton ; and so reduced by the 
dreadful cruelties of his iuiprisonment, that the 
people had to bring him on from house to house, 
by easy stages, to Johnston, where, after a long 
time, he recovered. This was the substance of his 
narrative. 

The writer will just add, that Mr. Vial married 
a daughter of David Brown, of Providence, and 
liad one or more children; resided many years 
after in the town of Johnston, a peaceful citizen, 
and industrious man. He lost his wife, and after- 
wards married again, and had one child; being 
prostrated by a blow of the palsy, he was entirely 
helpless for the last five years of his life, when 
their whole subsistence depended on his pension. 
His widow and little orphan girl are denied a con- 
tinuance of his pension and all the benefit of the 
late act for the relief of the widows and orphans 
of revolutionary pensioners, because they were mar- 
ried after the tear. Every act intended for the re- 
lief of human beings, passed in our country, must 
undergo so many abstractions, amendments and 
additions, and be the subject of so much speechi- 
fying, before it passes into an act, that it becomes 
so mutilated, as scarce to be recognized for the 
same. There is such a terrible alarm sounded 
whenever any of the revenue is asked for, that it 
is almost discouraging to apply, in any case. In 
the act in question, they have hedged it so com- 
pletely, that none but those who cannot possibly 
live long to leant it^ can come in for a share. And 
any man v/ho was so prudent, so magnanimous 
and so patriotic, as to refrain from marrying until 
peace was declared, until his country had no fur- 
ther call upon him, until there was some prospect 
his wife would not be a widow next day, is to be 
punished for it in his remotest generation, if he 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 97 

fought through the whole war, ruined his health, 
and spent all his property in the service, and mar- 
ried the day after, his destitute widow and impov- 
erished children can receive no benefit. May God 
grant that so great a scandal may, ere long, be 
wiped from a law, originally intended to promote 
the cause of justice and benevolence. 

Colonel Barton was a man of lively and cheerful 
temper and convivial powers, and he was always 
ready to promote innocent festivity among his fel- 
low citizens. He was one of those whose grati- 
tude for the kindly interference of the French na- 
tion, was really enthusiastic; no person enjoyed 
the visits of Rochambeau, of Layfayette and their 
friends, to his native town more than he did, or 
was more urgent to have the rights of hospitality 
extended, even to the meanest private, that he 
enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his friends 
is certain, that he had enemies in private as well 
as in public life, is equally certain. That there 
were, and still are persons who would gladly have 
stripped the laurels from his brow, the writer of 
this is fully aware. 

Colonel Barton lived to see peace once more re- 
stored to his bleeding country, to see her estab- 
lished in an honorable and well earned indepen- 
dence, and he considered it as his boast and his 
privilege. At the close of the war he found him- 
self the father of six sons, to which were after- 
wards added a seventh, and two daughters ; who 
were all educated in good moral principles and in- 
dustrious habits. That they should be sober, in- 
dustrious and useful citizens, was the height of 
his ambition. Having suffered much to put away 
thrones and principalities from among us, he had 
no desire to see any orders of nobility established ; 
and all aping of such "tragh," as he used to call 
9 



98 I IFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

them, (for he considered all titled gentry a noi- 
sance upon earth,) was his perfect disgust and 
aversion. In his principles and taste he was truly- 
republican. 

It has been erroneously said that General Barton 
received a liberal pecuniary recompense from his 
native State, for his services during the revolu- 
tionary war. His pay, which was reduced to al- 
most nothing, by the depreciation of the Conti- 
nental bills, was made good to him by the Legis- 
lature of Rhode-Island, according to the recom- 
mendation of Congress ; and an estate formerly 
belonging to the Banisters, refugees, in Newport, 
and confiscated, was awarded to him to make good 
the same. 

Colonel Barton was not rich at any time. About 
fifteen years before his death he became involved 
in a lawsuit in Vermont, in consequence of his pur- 
chase of a township in that State. This town- 
ship, now called the town of Barton, in the county 
of Orleans, was purchased of the State of Ver- 
mont, instead of being, as was reported, the gift 
of the United States. His title to a part of the 
land was afterwards disputed, and contested in 
law ; and according to the best information the 
writer was able to obtain on the subject, was alter- 
nately decided for and against the plaintiff. Much 
chicanery was practised, and finally, the whole 
cost of the court throv/n on the Colonel to pay, on 
account of the inability of his antagonist, as we 
have been informed. Be that as it may, the Colo- 
nel considered the demand as perfectly unconsti- 
tutional, and finally said he never would pay it ; 
and with him, his word was final. 

He was sued, and detained in the town of Dan- 
ville, in Caledonia county, for this sum, trivial in 
itself, fourteen years. During this time he board- 
ed at the hotel, where there was good society, and 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 99 

appeared to enjoy life as usual. He had already 
lived to the common age of man, and probably 
thought himself so near the end of his mortal pil- 
grimage that it would make no difference, and 
when he was committed, never calculated to see 
his home again. 

Providence, however, had ordered it otherwise. 
The great and good Lafayette visited tiie United 
States in the year 1824, and learnt with astonish- 
ment and indignation, that the brave General Bar- 
ton was a prisoner, 300 miles from his home, that 
lie had pledged his word never to pay a debt, 
which his principles forbade ; and that the nation 
he had so essentially benefitted, the State whose 
interests he had served, and his heroism honored, 
had not stepped forward to release the aged vete- 
ran, without the sacrifice of his word. 

Lafayette at once decided upon going out of his 
way to his aged friend, and most affectionate was 
the meeting between these ancient veterans. No 
spectator could, or did witness it unmoved. To 
his persuasions, however, of interfering to release 
him, the Colonel would not listen ; and there was 
no way but for Lafayette to proceed without his 
knowledge, which he resolved to do, knowing that 
he would then be obliged to return to his friends. 

He immediately despatched a messenger to 
discharge the debt, and the first intimation the 
Colonel had of it, he was at liberty. He returned 
to his home ; his aged partner, the companion of 
all his best years, the sharer of his joys and sor- 
rows, of his hardships during the time that tried 
men's souls, was there to welcome him; his child-' 
ren crowded round him; the surviving veterans of 
the revolution came to congratulate him ; his 
neighbors and friends in abundance offered their 
congratulations. The Colonel received them all 
with his accustomed politeness, gave them his 



100 LIFE OF GENERAL i3ART0N. 

hand, and expressed himself with perfect cheerfal- 
ness and good humor. But the charm of life was 
broken! fourteen years, at his time of life, had 
made strange alterations ; the faces of his old 
friends who survived, were strangely altered, and 
lie himself, most altered of all ; and the greater 
part of those whom he missed v/ere dead. He had 
been cheerful, apparently contented, during his 
sojourn in Vermont; ever lively, outwardly so at 
least, but who, except He who can read the heart, 
knov.^s what is passing there? Who can tell how 
often the smile upon the lips belies the pang of 
soul.-^ To a person of General Barton's social turn 
what a deprivation, to lose the society of his fam- 
ily for such a term of years. His friends — he 
must have regretted less; I'or what is friendship.'' 
What is fame? The breath of popular applause; 
the shout of the rabble, that dies upon the breeze. 
All this he was then compelled to understand; not- 
withstanding which, there was a feeling of con- 
scious integrity, a remembrance of self-do tUon, 
the lambent flame of prtriotism, the all-satisfying 
assurance, that for his country his labors had not 
been in vain ; prosperous and happy they were, 
whether grateful or not — and this supported him. 
He w^as too good-natured ever to be really angry 
for any time with any one, except the British, and 
them he never really forgave for their abuse of 
the defenceless prisoners that fell into their hands. 
He could conceive of such barbarities among Turks 
and Russians, but among an educated, intelligent 
and religious people, he was always amazed, and 
quite exasperated when he thought of it. 

One of the greatest amusements of the Colonel 
after his return to his native place was, whenever 
his infirmities would admit, to walk round and see 
the improvements of the place. An anecdote was 
related to the writer some months since, highly 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON lOi 

diverting, and which we cannot forbear to relate. 
The aged veteran had been toiling up a hill, dur- 
ing one of those solitary rambles, to take a bird's 
eye view of the city, when feeling himself much 
fatigued, he seated himelf upon the door-step of a 
handsome house to rest, and began to fan himself 
with his hat. He was perceived by the mistress 
of the house, who immediately called to a servant 
to ask what venerable old gentleman it was, and 
to have him invited in to rest. " Why, la, ma'am, 
it is old General Barton, sat down to rest himself 
there, to be sure." 

The lady flew to the door, and invited him in. 
He declined, very politely, saying he was quite 
comfortable where he was. But the lady insist- 
ed, and telling him he was a person she had so 
long washed to see, he was obliged to yield. She 
conducted him into the drawing room, and seated 
him on a sofa, and ordered a servant to bring in 
refreshments; then seating herself opposite, she 
introduced herself, and commenced a very interest- 
ing conversation. The heart of the old gentleman 
warmed, as she spoke of the various characters 
who had been his friends and cotemporaries, dur- 
ing the stormy period of the revolution ; and by 
degrees he was drawn out and induced to speak 
of scenes long gone by, in which he had himself 
been an actor. After conversing about an hour, 
in which his memory and animation seemed fully 
returned, he rose to depart, and very cordially- 
thanked the lady for her politeness; he lingered a 
moment, then said, ^'I really do n't know how to 
take leave of a lady who has been so exceedingly 
kind and polite, without kissing her once." '' Cer- 
tainly, sir," said the lady, "to receive a kiss from 
a revolutionary hero, and that the brave General 
Barton, would be an honor I should always remem- 
9* 



10-> LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

ber with pleasure;" and stepping gracefully across 
the room, she presented her cheek. Never did de- 
vout Roman Catholic kiss the shrine of his tutelar 
Saint with more apparent reverence, than the 
General pressed his aged lips, to the blooming 
cheek ofhis hostess; then shaking her affectionate- 
ly by the hand, and bowing low, he departed. It 
was the first and last time she ever saw him. He 
lived but a short time after. 

The writer of this narrative called on the Colo- 
nel a short time before his death ; he expressed 
great satisfaction to see a person with whose fam- 
ily he had been so intimate in former years. He 
was exceedingly indisposed at the time, but said, 
at parting, that the next time she called, he should 
kiss her. The writer has to regret that she has 
not that honor to boast of, as ere she saw him 
again, the icy hand of death had for ever closed 
the lips of the venerable hero. 

A gradual decline seemed to have come over 
the health and faculties of the Colonel from the 
time ofhis return to his home, and he lived but a 
few years after. It was in vain his family watched 
over his declining days, with intense interest ; in 
vain his fellow townsmen, sought by every kind 
and respectful attention, to remind him they had 
not forgotten his services. The period of his mor- 
tal life had arrived, and the Great Commander 
sununoned him to lay down his arms, and appear 
before his God. He departed this life on the 
22d day of Oct. 1831, aged 85. 

The immediate cause of his death, w^as a fit of 
apoplexy, which he survived only a few days, and 
from which his mind never recovered, as he was 
perfectly insensible to all around him, from the 
moment of the attack, to that ofhis death. Of 
his state of preparation however his friends and 
family who were with him, during the last years 



LIFE OF GENERAL CARTON. 103 

fjf his life, have no doubts. Genera! Barton was a 
professor of religion, in early youth. He was a 
member of the first Calvinistic Congregational So- 
ciety (and indeed the only one of that order, ever 
organized in the town of Providence.) The Rev. 
Mr. Snow was then pastor of it. After the com- 
mencement of his military career, he was never 
known to commune there. Whether it was be- 
cause he judged life in the camp to unfit one for 
church communion, orwhether from some distaste 
to the doctrines or discipline, is not known; but as 
it occurred at a time when there was a great seces- 
sion from that society, probably the latter, as he 
did not leave the going to meetings, and regular 
attendance on public worship. When at home, 
he regularly attended at the First Baptist, and was 
an intimate and very attached friend of the late 
Stephen Gano, pastor of that society. After his 
return from Vermont, he daily read the scriptures, 
keeping it with a volume of Watts's hymns on a 
stand at his elbow, and resorting to it from time 
to time, through the day. 

It would not be safe to judge the conscience of 
any individual, by their ceasing to be a communi- 
cant in a church. It is a fact, though not gene- 
rally known, that the father of our country, Wash- 
ington, himself, previous to the revolutionary war, 
was a communicant in the then Church of Eng- 
land, but he never went to the communion table 
after. No person could tell the reason — he never 
gave any ; and it is altogether a matter of conjec- 
ture what his motives were. That he was a re- 
ligious man throughout, every one believed ; a 
man of prayer, even in a camp. Whether he had 
an idea, as many persons at that day had, that 
there was a kind of tie between the parent gov- 
ernment and the Episcopal Church, which would 
never be broken, we cannot tell ; but if that was 



104 t-IFE OF GENERAL BARTO?f. 

his reason, that difficulty must have been removed 
when he found a very large proportion of that 
church foremost in the republican ranks, and even 
deserting and impeaching their clergy, because 
they would pray for the king. This reason, then, 
would cease to operate; and we are finally obliged 
to believe that he felt the life of distraction he was 
obliged to lead in the camp to be an unsuitable 
preparation for church communion, and from the 
habit of staying away, the return was postponed 
from time to time. A descendant of his family, 
and one well acquainted with all its domestic his- 
tory, communicated this fact to the author ; bu^ 
they did not hazard a conjecture as to the cause 



CHAPTER IV. 

We come now to consider the character of the- 
person whose history we have been writing, and 
this, as death has set his seal, we have a right to 
do. Perhaps there is no better evidence of the 
intellectual and moral feelings of an individual 
than their writings, and we regret to say we have 
but little of the General's to exhibit. In the first 
place, the employments of a soldier, and his soci- 
ety, are not very favorable to the cultivation of 
literary talent ; and in the next place, the Colo- 
nel's education was very limited. It was such as 
prepared him for what his parents designed him, 
a respectable mechanic. And we may ask with 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. lOo 

reason, if with his education, his limited means of 
information and acquaintance with mihtary tac- 
tics, he was capable of conceiving and accomplish- 
ing what he did, what would he have been, if he 
had combined all those advantages ? 

Posterity will in general judge fairly of the ac- 
tions and character of an individual, but a prophet 
in his own day, as well as in his own country, is 
without his reward. We look more at the little 
excentricities, and oddities of temper, and pecu- 
liarities of speech, and of apparel, yes, even down 
to the cut of his coat, than to his good properties 
or brilliant actions. The Colonel was beloved in 
his regiment, and beloved in his family, and by 
the circle of familiar friends with whom his social 
hours were passed. He was a person of old fash- 
ioned notions, and old fashioned politeness — that 
kind of politeness which is in constant exercise for 
the comfort or amusement of his company in an 
especial manner. We allude to it because it is so 
very old fashioned. In these days of entire self- 
ishness we are fearful it would not be understood. 
An anecdote illustrative of this was narrated to 
the author a few days since, by Captain Joshua 
Langley, of Providence, who many years since 
used to run a packet between New-York and Prov- 
idence, in which he went as Captain. General 
Barton, among a number of others, was a passen- 
ger at one time, and owing to a stress of weather 
and sundry hindrances, they did not get to port 
until after the astonishing passage of twelve days. 
The Captain had a hard time, for as often as there 
was a prospect of getting in, it was destroyed by 
some fresh disaster. The patience of the ignorant 
passengers would entirely leave them, and grum- 
bling and discontent almost broke out into open 
mutiny. At those times General Barton always 
stepped in, and the angry elements seemed hushed 



10(5 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

at his presence. He possessed a great deal of 
humor, and had laid up a fund of anecdote, and at 
these times would collect a group around and en- 
tertain them, until they completely forgot their 
former unkind feelings. When alluding to their 
unpleasant situation, he never failed to remark, 
'^ Our landlord has, after all, the worst of it," 
meaning the excessive expence of boarding so 
man}^ people, for such a length of time, without 
any additional charge. The Captain himself was 
so delighted with his stories, and imperturbable 
o'ood humor, that he would gladly have carried 
him through every trip, as he said, "• for the sol© 
recompense of listening to him." 

Whatever honor accrues to him who wraps 
himself up in haughty and impenetrable silence, 
and avoids his fellow-beings as though he feared 
the infection of some pestilential disease, they 
were welcome to all such honor from the General. 
His was the honor of endeavoring to make others 
happy, of trying in all kinds of company to pro- 
mote social intercourse and harmless gaiety. 

A custom among some of those characters of 
olden time of kissing the ladies, to whom they 
were introduced, may occasion a smile in these 
days, but we have been assured by many worthy 
and excellent persons now living, that it meant no 
more then, than Frenchmen mean now, by kissing 
each other. But they all add, the world has grown 
so wicked since they were youngs that it is proper the 
fashion should be given up. As respected the 
Colonel, we believe we may say in truth, it was 
the extent of his gallantries. 

It has been said by some of the cotemporaries 
of Colonel Barton, that he was vain-glorious on 
the subject of his exploit in capturing Prescott, 
because he could bear to hear it conversed on m 
his presence, and would talk of it himself ; a re- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 107 

mark which we should think too contemptible to 
repeat, if it were not for the pleasure of combat- 
tinsT a sentiment, which in these days of finesse, 
of false delicacy, and ridiculous pretence, is be- 
coming- quite common. For our own part, we can 
see no impropriety in speaking of what we under- 
stand, or narrating" whatever we have been eye- 
witnesses of, or actors in. To ns, we must con- 
fess, there is something- infinitely interesting in 
hearing travellers tell their own story, soldiers 
*' fight their battles o'er again," &c. ; and we re- 
collect being once the most thoroughly provoked, 
by discovering we had been two years boarding 
in the family with a gentleman, who acted a dis- 
tinguished part in one of our naval battles during 
the last war, and who never in all that time spoke 
on the subject, or revealed, when others were 
speaking of it, that he had even been a witness of 
it ; so much information as he might have com- 
municated, of such an intensely interesting nature! 

To be on all occasions thnrsting ourselves for- 
ward, and intruding our own affairs upon the no- 
tice of people, and becoming upon all occasions 
the hero of our own story, is disgusting in the ex- 
treme ; but there is a medium, and we think the 
other extreme quite as much so. It has been the 
fortune of the writer of this narrative to be ac- 
quainted with several persons who have observed 
as much caution when speaking of themselves and 
their business as though they had belonged to 
some gang of counterfeiters, or been concerned in 
highway robbery ; persons whom we sincerely be- 
lieve to have been honest and well disposed ; but 
who by their extreme caution and secrecy have 
often been suspected of being otherwise. 

It has been observed in another part of this nar- 
rative that Colonel Barton was an unwavering re- 
publican ; that he had the most sovereign contempt 



108 J-IFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

for every thing bordering upon aristocracy. " To 
get rid of these paltry things," he would say, "we 
took up arms, and shall we after shedding our 
blood to be free, bow down our necks again to the 
yoke of bondage." 

But although the Colonel had the most supreme 
aversion to titles of nobility, he never forgot the 
rank he had himself held in the republican army, 
and however highly provoked, no mortal could 
have prevailed on him to fight with any one who 
held a less rank than himself in the army. The 
thing has been tried, but the experiment failed. 
The Colonel would not degrade the office he held. 

The Colonel has been accused of cherishing 
vindictive feelings against the English, and of try- 
ing to keep alive a spirit of resentment against a 
nation that, although once foes, we have long 
considered as friends. It should be remembered, 
that Colonel Barton lived in an age, when he had 
a chance to see more of that people than we, his 
successors on the stage of action, ever had, and it 
is hoped ever may. The tender mercies of the 
British, towards those whom policy, prejudice, or 
love of dominion, inclined them to crush, was too 
well known to that veteran. He could not believe 
that feelings of deadly hostility had been con- 
quered by fears of rivalry. He remembered the fate 
of France — the centuries of unrelenting warfare 
that had been waged against her. He remem- 
bered, not only the inhuman butcheries that had 
been perpetrated in this country in cold blood, the 
prisoners despatched by the lingering death of 
famine, the unparalleled sufferings upon our 
coasts, the stirring up of ruthless savages, and all 
the horrors of a barbarian mode of warfare. He 
remembered not only all this, and the oppressions 
that drove us to take up arms, but he remember- 
ed other things that followed. The Algerine war. 



LIFE OF GEiVERAL BARTON. ]09 

which so immediately followed the treaty of peace 
between them and Great Britain — the wonderful 
friendship all at once cemented between that nest 
of pirates and Great Britain, and the immediate 
hostility manifested towards ourselves — the fifty 
sail of corsairs built, and fitted out at Gibraltar to 
cruise against our infant navy, and hurry our un- 
offending citizens into a bondage worse than 
death — worse than any thing except their own 
prison ships. The anti-ministerial papers in Eng- 
land stated this fact and remonstrated loudly with 
the government on the subject at the time. We 
have never seen any denial from the other side. 

We observe that things which now appear to 
so many as a mere tale of romance, were actually 
witnessed by the heroes of the revolution ; and is 
it any thing out of nature that they should have 
shrunk with horror from the association with per- 
sons whose hands were yet reeking with the blood 
of our fellow citizens .'' that they should have re- 
fused at the close of the war, to court the acquain- 
tance of the officers that remained in the country 
and join to frolic and feast those with whom it 
was a matter of perfect indifference at the moment, 
whether they were dancing at our expence, or 
cutting our throats ? Notwithstanding all this, we 
repeat. Colonel Barton was a man of benevolent 
feelings, and would not have withheld from an 
enemy in distress, any relief they might have 
asked for. That he was above the sordid thirst 
of gain, which characterized our enemies in his 
day, we may well believe, from the circumstances 
attending his capture of General Prescott. It was 
well known that the General had more or less mo- 
ney with him, and the house of Mr. Overing con- 
tained a considerable quantity of valuable plate, 
and other things of cost, and nothing could have 
10 



110 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

been easier than to have brought it off; there was 
a sufficient number with him to have rifled the 
house without any additional risk. The house of 
General Schuyler was completely stripped in much 
less time, by the British, (who never failed on any 
occasion, to add plunder to their other achiev- 
ments,) and although an armed force was at hand 
in a few moments, the property was never recov- 
ered ; but Colonel Barton disdained to have a hand 
in robbing a private dwelling of private property. 
Among the papers of Colonel Barton, of which 
we grieve to say very few remain at this day; we 
have not been able to find many which would be 
very interesting to the reader. The following, as 
exhibiting something of the courtly style of those 
days, we have transcribed; the first is one of con- 
gratulation, written a few days after the burning 
of Bristol, where General Barton was wounded. 

Letter from his Excellency Henry Laurens to 
Colonel William Barton. 

YoRKTowN, 20th of June, 1778. 

Dear Colonel — I most sincerely congratulate with 
all your friends, on your late acquisition of glory, 
and on your prospect of appearing again with vig- 
or in both fields of engagement. 

I interest myself, I cannot help it, in the welfare 
of every brave man; therefore. Sir, I request you 
to let me know as soon as you can, under your own 
hand, the state of your wounds and health in gen- 
eral. The gazettes which I here enclose, will af- 
ford you much information, and an hour's agreea- 
ble amusement. The enemy have certainly aban- 
doned Philadelphia, but their movements are at 
present inexplicable. 

Three thousand troops they say are embarked, 
and gone down the river, the rest encamped be- 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. HI 

tween Hadonfield and Cooper's Ferry. If this be 
true, and I have it from good authority, it gives 
scope to much conjecture. 

Believe me, my dear Colonel, to be with great 
esteem and regard, 

Your obedient humble serv't, 

HENRY LAURENS. 

Colonel William Barton. 

P. S. General Arnold is appointed to conuiiand 
in the city, by General Washington. 

The following, accompanied the sword, which 
though it was voted at an early day, was not com- 
pleted until after the war. The sword, still pre- 
served in the family of Colonel Barton, is one of 
very fine w^orkmanship; the blade of tempered 
steel, silver hiked, chased with gold, in emblem- 
atical devices, and the words, " Gift of Congress 
to Colonel Barton. 25th July, 1777." Its cost was 
100 dollars. The letter is from the Hon. Mr. Knox, 
Secretary of War. 

War Office of the United States^ 

New-York, August 1st, 1786. 

Sir — In consequence of the resolve of Congress 
of the 25th of July, 1 777, I have the honor to trans- 
mit to you the sword therein directed, as a per- 
manent evidence of the just sense entertained by 
that illustrious assembly of your address and gal- 
lant behaviour in making prisoners on Rhode-Is- 
land, Major-General Prescott, and Major Barring- 
ton, his aid-de-camp. 

To the expressive approbation of the supreme 
national authority, was added the unanimous ap- 
plause of the army. The enterprise was justly re- 
garded as one of those hazardous actions, whose 
success depends upon the exact combination and 



112 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

execution of" a maltitude of parts, and therefore, 
the more glorious. 

The circumstances of the late war prevented 
the execution of the orders of Congress, as it re- 
spected the sword, until the present period. 
I have the honor to be, Sir, 
Your most obedient and 

Very humble servant, 

J. KNOX. 

The answer of Colonel Barton was as follows : 

Providence, August 10th, 1786. 

Sir — I have been honored with your letter ac- 
companying the sword which Consrress ordered 
me, July the 25th, 1777. 

This mark of approbation from that august body, 
fills me with the most agreeable sensation. It is 
not in my power to describe how much I esteem 
this noble present. I shall forever look up in that 
illustrious assembly with a heart filled with grati- 
tude for this mark of distinction. To be assured 
by the first characters that composed the Ameri- 
can army, that any part of my conduct met their 
approbation, gives me the greatest satisfaction. 

The enterprise against General Prescott was 
hazardous, but what crowned it with success un- 
der the smiles of Providence, was the bravery and 
unshaken firmness of those who were with me. 

The elegance of the sword, is an ample com- 
pensation for any delays that the war occasioned 
in the delivery of it. 

I am, with sentiments of the highest esteem, 
vour most obedient and very humble servant, 
WM. BARTON, late Colonel 
in the army of the United States. 

Hon. Mr. Knox, Secretary of War. 



LIFE OF GKNP:RAL BARTON. 113 

Louis XVI. was very much diverted with the 
story of the taking* of General Prescott off Rhode- 
Island, and it was said, laughed very heartily when 
it was related to him, and that he instructed Mr, 
St. John, his Consul at New-York, to obtain from 
his captor, a particular account of the transaction. 
We recollect hearing this many years since, spoken 
of, and we were never acquainted with the fact, 
or indeed, made any inquiry after, about it, not 
then anticipating the honor of being his historian. 
The following letter, in the Colonel's hand-writing, 
found among his papers, and purporting to be the 
copy of an answer to one from Thomas Lloyd Hal- 
sey, Esq., of this city, was, in our opinion, a con- 
firmation, and we made no further inquiry. 

The answer to Mr. Halsey\s letter is in the fol- 
lowing language : 

Providence, Nov. 8th, 1787. 

Dear Sir — Your request to me in favor of the 
Hon. St. John, Consul of his Most Christian Majes- 
ty, at New- York, for the narrative of the capture 
of Major-General Prescott, is so flattering, that I 
have not power to refuse it. 1 have had applica- 
tions for the narrative before; but as yet, have 
given none. Having always viewed his Most 
Christian Majesty as the saviour of my country, if 
I should refuse one of his Consuls so distinguished 
a moment's pleasure in my power to bestow, would 
be the greatest ingratitude. Enclosed is the nar- 
rative, with a sketch of the river, islands, and part 
of the enemy's shipping, which you have my con- 
sent to send to the Hon. Mr. St. John. 

You must be sensible how difficult it is for a 
person to give the history of an enterprise in which 
he himself was cunGerned, without many embar- 
10* 



114 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON". 

rassments. I must entreat you, dear sir, to make 
every apology possible, to the Consul. 

I am, with sentiments of the highest esteem, 
Your friend and very humble servant. 

WM. BARTON. 
To Thomas L. Halsey, agent of his Most Christ- 
ian Majesty, for the State of Rhode-Island. 

In person, General Barton was of middling 
height, light complexion, brown hair, and blue 
eyes; in his youth he was esteemed handsome. 
His portrait, taken during the war, exhibited a 
fine looking man in the prime of life, clothed in the 
Continental uniform, and bearing on his shoulder 
the ensignia of his office. The countenance, a re- 
markably placid one ; the predominant expression 
was that of extreme benevolence; though there 
was mingled something of determination. It was 
shown us by the aged partner of his bosom, 'Come,' 
said she, leading the way to another apartment, 
"I will show you how he looked in his youth; that 
was his portrait taken soon after he entered the 
army, and did he not look well in those days ?" 
A flush once more visited her cheek, and the fire 
of intelligence sparkled in her eyes while she stood 
with her hands meekly folded on her bosom, in con- 
templation of the portrait. Oh, what a memory of 
long past scenes, of buried joys, was there, while 
the events of half a century rushed through her 
brain, as looking back through the long vista of 
years upon ihe gallant youthful soldier, she de- 
scried the skirmish and the battle, the nights of 
feverish anxiety, the days of wearisome watchful- 
ness, when the sound of every gun struck terror 
to her heart ; the shouts, the acclamations, tlie 
ringing of bells, and the triumphal entry of her 
hero husband to his native place after a success- 
ful enterprise ; one which for daring exposure and 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON 115 

real audacious courage was not surpassed, scarce- 
ly equalled during" the war of independence. Fler 
eye droops, the scene changes, the war is over, 
the rescued nation prosperous and happy ; but he, 
the partner of all her joys and sorrows, torn from 
her side, declining into the vale of years, a pris- 
oner for fourteen long years in a distant part of 
the country, and ere she again beheld him, an old 
man, tottering on the verge of the grave. She 
heaved a deep sigh, and saying, " there is another 
portrait," led on to the room beyond. The other 
portrait was taken during the last years of his life. 
Time had laid his hand upon the head of the ven- 
erable hero more gently than upon almost any 
other person we have ever known ; yet it was a 
contrast, although an exceedingly well-looking 
and handsome old gentleman. 

General Barton enjoyed the esteem and friend- 
ship of many distinguished persons in the revolu- 
tion, and during the very last years of his life he 
often spoke of their kindness with feelings of the 
liveliest gratitude, saying, he was not worthy of 
all the kindness he had received and the honors 
bestowed on him, inasmuch as his success had not 
been owing to his own superior courage or sagac- 
ity, but the dauntless bravery of the men under 
his command. Never was he heard to insinuate 
that his services had been ill requited, either by 
the general government or his native state, though 
others have often said it. The conmiander in 
chief, General Washington, entertained a high 
opinion of his coolness and courage, in the capture 
of Prescott, and has been heard to express himself 
with much animation on the subject. 

General Barton, with other gentlemen from 
Providence, was in the city of New-York, and pre- 
paring to call on General Washington. Several per- 
sons who had called on him that morning mention- 



1 10 LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 

ed that the General was too much indisposed to 
see company on that day, and that they had called 
and been denied. General Barton, however^ 
called as others, probably willing to show his de- 
votion to his late commander in chief, by calling- 
at an early day, whether he saw him or not. He 
merely announced himself as Colonel Barton, 
when the servant requested him to stop a moment, 
and directly returning, requested to know if he 
was the Colonel Barton who captured Prescott, 
and upon being answered in the affirmative, con- 
ducted him to the chamber of the General, where, 
notwithstanding the indisposition of the chief, he 
had a long and very interesting interview. Upon 
being questioned on his return to the hotel " if he 
had seen the General," he very frankly related 
his reception. We will not say that the recital 
gave equal pleasure to the hearers, as it aiibrded 
the narrator. 

And here we cannot forbear to revert to that 
most remarkable feature in the character of the de- 
parted hero, viz. : that simplicity of speech and sin- 
gleness of heart, which distinguished him through 
life. He never could be made to comprehend, but 
that whatever gave him pleasure, would be sure 
to please others also. It does not seem as though 
a person who has seen so much of life, of mankind, 
had passed so much of his time in camp, where all 
the w^orst passions of human nature are supposed 
at times to display themselves, could have been so 
ignorant of the world, as to suppose this: and that 
it was owing to dullness of apprehension, v/e 
know was not the case, for in an}"* thing of the 
least exciting nature, the lightning's flash was not 
quicker than he was. We can only then account 
tor it, in one of two ways, either by supposing that 
he was really ignorant of the deep depravity of 
the human heart, or that he was determjnately 



LIFE OF GENERAL BARTON. 117 

unniindfal of the existence of feeling-s in tiie hu- 
man breast, calculated to destroy all the harmon}^ 
of social intercourse, and effectually to shut the 
heart of man against his brother man ; the latter 
seems most probable. He was certainly in the 
habit of expressing himself before almost every 
one, as though all mankind were his sworn friends. 

But if honesty, frp.nkness, and simplicity of cha- 
racter, are not popular in this world, we trust they 
are fully appreciated in that, where the departed 
hero now finds rest, and where the laurels of vic- 
tory are not woven for the brows of the merely 
successful soldier in an earthly campaign, but for 
him who wars successfully against the sinful max- 
ims and fashions of the age, and its debasing prac- 
tices. 

The departure of General Barton from this world, 
was one of peace : no struggle, with the king of 
terrors marked the event, no spasm or agonizing 
contortion wrung the hearts of the sympathizing 
spectators, but "summer evening's latest sigh, that 
shuts the rose," is not more gentle, than was the 
sigh that dismissed the spirit of the hero from its 
mortal tabernacle, and wafted the immortal soul to 
the presence of its Creator. 



A P P E N D I X . 



Note A. 



The village of Warren is here stated to be on 
the east side of a little cove or creek ; it would 
perhaps be proper to observe, that this cove ex- 
tends to the north several miles above Warren, 
and there is a river, formerly called Palmer's, which 
empties into it just north of the village; it is now 
very generally called Warren river. Across this 
river there is a bridge, as well as another across 
the cove, which is narrow at the head of the vil- 
lage, and then expands immediately above and be- 
low. At the time of the burning of Bristol and 
Warren there were no bridges and the cove was 
passed by a ferry boat plying from the port, across 
to the tongue of land mentioned in the description 
of the place. This circumstance accounts for the 
delay of the forces of General Sullivan coming up. 
To carry a large body of troops over in these 
ferry boats must have taken time, and occasioned 
very considerable delay. After the war these 
bridges were built, and held many years by an in- 
corporated company; of course they were toll 
bridges, and a bridge over the Seekonk, or as it is 
sometimes called Pawtucket river, built by John 
Brown, a citizen of Providence, wns also, and still 
is a toll bridge; so that the beautiful towns of War- 
ren and Bristol remain as a treasure hid in a box, 
which only a golden key will open. To speak witli- 
out metaphor, those places are cramped and kept 
down by the difficulty of getting at them. Tjje 
Warren bridge has been sold into the hands of one 



i.>0 APPENDIX. 

individual, but it does not lessen the evil. There 
can be no doubt that it has retarded the growth 
of both those places, and it certainly prevents many 
strangers from visiting them, and parties of pleas- 
ure from taking them in their drives. 

It is not the mere expense, that is trifling, about 
twelve and a half cents per bridge, but it is the in- 
tolerable vexation of being stopped every few miles 
to pay toll. The villages on the east side of Narra- 
gansett Bay, are far more delightful than those on 
the west, but less frequented for this reason. We 
should suppose it a great oversight in those towns, 
to let the bridge sold, pass into the hands of an 
individual. The increased prosperity of these 
towns would have been an ample remuneration 
for purchasing them and making them free. A 
bridge or a turnpike that gets into the hands of a 
company or a family, every body knows, never gets 
out; they contrive that it shall never pay for itself. 



iNote B. 
The family of General Barton were not wealthy, 
but highly respectable ; their residence was about 
two miles from the village of Warren, at a place 
now called Barton's Point. General Barton, how- 
ever, spent most of his youth at the village, and 
served his time there at the occupation which he 
subsequently worked at. A nephew of his, (Capt. 
Seth Barton,) v/ho seemed to inherit all his spirit, 
was an officer on board the Yankee, privateer, 
during the last war, and enacted prodigies of valor. 



Note C. 
There are several old persons now living in 
Bristol and its vicinity, from whom we received 



APPENDiX". loi 

some of the particulars narrated in this biography. 
To one, a remarkably old gentleman, who perfect- 
ly recollects the scenes enacted there during the 
revolution, we made the request that he would 
describe the manoeuvres of the enemy at the bom- 
bardment of the place, just as he witnessed it; and 
it is with pleasure that we lay before the reader 
his natural and graphic description of that event, 
in a letter which he did us the favor to write a 
few days since. Agreeably to his request, we sup- 
press his name, otherwise we should have given 
it with pride and pleasure. He was also so very 
obliging as to procure for us a copy of verses com- 
posed on the occasion, by some of the wags of 
Bristol; and which like that made upon the de- 
struction of. the ''Gaspee," and the capture of 
Prescott, they used to sing in those days, maugre 
the deficiency in numbers. The letter is as fol- 
lows: — 

Bristol, November 5, 1838. 
Respected Friend, 

October 7th, 1775, the day when Wallace fired 
upon the town of Bristol, I was something over 
ten years old, and all the circumstances relating 
to that event are fresh in my memory. It was on 
a pleasant afternoon, with a gentle breeze from 
the south, that the ships at Newport got under 
way and stood up towards Bristol, (appearing to 
us a pretty sight.) The wind being light they did 
not arrive till sunset. Wallace, in the Rose, led the 
way, run up and anchored within a cable's length 
of the wharf. I think the other ships' names 
were the Gaspee and Eskew. The next followed 
and anchored one cable's length to the south. 
The other one, in endeavoring to go further south, 
grounded on the middle ground. Besides these I 
think there was a bomb brig, and a schooner. 
11 



J. 22 APPENDIX. 

The schooner run up opposite the bridge and an- 
chored. I was on the wharf, with hundreds of 
others, viewing the same, and suspecting no evil. 
At 8 o'clock the Commodore fired a gun. Even 
then the people felt no alarm, but in a very short 
time they began to (ire all along the line, and con- 
tinued to fire for an hour. The bomb brig threv/ 
carcases, machines made of iron hoops, and filled 
with all manner of combustibles, to set fire to the 
town. They threw them up nearly perpendicular, 
with a tremendous tail to them, and when they 
fell on the ground they blazed up many yards 
high, several of which were put out. One of 
them fell in a garden near where I now write. A 
man went to a well near by to get water to put it 
out. He had hardly got irom the well v/hen a 
cannon ball tore down the well curb. Others of 
these missiles fell in various parts of the town, but 
none of them took effect. The cowardly rascal, 
after firing for an hour or so, being hailed by one 
of our citizens, ceased firing, and a committee 
from the town went on board, and hie demand on 
them was a number of sheep and cattle. I be- 
lieve they collected a few^ and the next day, be- 
ing Sunday, he got under way and left us, with a 
name not yet forgotten. Being a boy I was sent 
into town next morning to drive away some cows, 
when all was still. In passing the field of corn 
where Rev. Mr. Burt was found dead, having fall- 
en on his face on a hill of corn, I saw the ground 
fresh dug up. I commenced digging with my 
hands, and found a nine pound shot, which must 
have passed very near him, as it was in exact 
range of him and the ship ; and it was supposed 
by some that the ball passed so near him as to 
cause his death, though no marks of its effects 
were found on his body. 



APPENDIX. 123 

It is marvellous that there were not more peo- 
ple killed, as the bridge was crowded with people 
all the time of the firing, and the schooner lay 
within pistol shot of the bridge and kept up a con- 
stant fire. The rest of the ships fired grape, round 
and double-head shot, vfhich were plentifully found 
after the firing. 

It was a very sickly time in town. Some died 
that night or shortly after, and the holes in the 
houses where the sick and dying lay, are still to 
be seen. The following verses were made on the 
occasion. 

BOMBARDMENT OF BRISTOL. 

In seventeen hundred and seventy-five, 
Our Bristol town was much surprized 
By a pack of thievish villains, 
That will not work to earn their livings. 

October 't vras the seventh day, 
As I have heard the people say 
Wallace, his name be ever curst, 
Came in our harbor just at dusk. 

And there his ships did safely moor. 
And quickly sent his barge on shore 
With orders that should not be broke, 
Or they might expect a smoke. 

Demanding that the magistrates 
Should quickly come on board his ships, 
And let him have some sheep and cattle. 
Or they might expect a battle. 



At eight o'clock, by signal given, 
Our peaceful atmosphere was riven 
By British balls, both grape and round- 
As plenty afterwards were found. 



124 APPENDIX- 

But oh ! to hear the doleful cries 
Of people running for their lives! 
Women, with children in their arms. 
Running away to the farms ! 

With all their firing and their skill 
They did not any person kill. 
Neither was any person hurl 
But the Reverend Parson Burt. 

And he was not killed by a bail, 

As judged by jurors, one and all ; 

But being in a sickly state, 

He, frightened fell, which proved Ins fate. 

Another truth to you I '11 tell, 
That you may see they levelled w^ell ; 
For aiming for to kill the people. 
They fired their shot into a steeple. 

They fired low, they fired high, 
The women scream, the children cry ; 
And all their firing and their racket 

Shot off the topmast of a packet. 

***** ******** 

Mrs. Williams, Author of Religion at Home, ^c. 

It is stated here upon authority, that the sheep 
and oxen were sent. Thus far history, but history 
is mistaken; the sheep, &c. were not sent, for just 
as they were about to be embarked in the boats, 
Captain Martin of Seekonk arrived with his com- 
pany, and protested they should not be sent. 
Now Wallace upon his arrival in the harbor of 
Bristol had sent a boat with the white flag, invi- 
ting Governor Bradford to a truce. The Gov. ac- 
cordingly went off in a boat to meet the comman- 
der, and to hear the arrogant demand of provisions, 
&c. which he declined furnishing them with; the 
conference of course was broken up, and as the 



APPENDIX. 125 

boat, containing the Deputy-Governor, turned 
about to return, the enemy fired a broadside into 
the town, the balls of which went over the head 
of the Governor, and came near sinking* his boat; 
he however reached the shore in safety, and at- 
tempted to reach his house through the garden. 
He had to climb the fence, and as he did so the 
board on which his hand rested was carried from 
his grasp by a cannon ball. 

The town of Bristol was at that time visited 
by an epidemic, which had proved very mortal, 
and there were at that time three persons lying 
dead in the place; the mortal part of Mrs. Bradford 
the Governor's wife had been consigned to the 
tomb onl}^ the day before; the terrified inhabitants 
therefore, thought the sword and the pestilence 
were let loose upon them at once. The Governor 
at first was unflinching, and stoutly protested their 
demands should not be acceeded to, but at length 
yielding to the persuasion of the inhabitants, who 
saw nothing but destruction before them, he con- 
cluded to supply the desired quota of sheep and 
oxen, upon their ceasing their fire, and removing 
out of the harbor. It was some work to collect the 
animals, and by the timethej^ were ready to ship, 
the veritable Captain Martin arrived with his com- 
pany. He would not hear a single word about 
embarking them, but bringing the field-pieces upon 
a small eminence, that commanded the bay, com- 
menced a fire upon the enemy's shipping. Op- 
posed thus unexpectedly, and placed now at a dis- 
advantage to renew the contest, the ships of Wal- 
lace made their way back to Newport. 

The accountof this transaction in history mere- 
ly states that the enemy would not desist from 
firing on the town until their demands were com- 
plied with, and leaves us in the belief that the an- 
11* 



J. 26 APPEND!?!. 

iraais were actually conveyed on board. Never- 
theless, that was not the case, although they had 
been collected to be embarked. This Captain 
Martin was the father of Simeon Martin, after- 
wards Lieutenant-Governor of the State, as also 
of a numerous family of sons beside. 



Note D. 

Capture of Prescott. — This exploit, certainly one 
of the most hazardous attempted during the whole 
war; is just casually mentioned in history, acci- 
dentally brought in, as it were, and yet it was very 
important in its results. The main army at Lono- 
Island was then in a most discouraging situation, 
and the news was most happy in its tendency, as 
respected them ; it seemed to put new life into 
them, and to the Commander-in-Chief it was infi- 
nitely agreeable. It was observed to the author 
by a gentleman then with the army, that he had 
never seen the cloud so deep upon the usually pla- 
cid brow of Washington, as it was immediately 
before the news of Prescott's capture; his situa- 
tion was then as it was many other times, painful 
and embarrassing; and the effect was like electri- 
city, the rejoicing among his soldiers was so ex- 
hilarating. Was there no other reward, what 
a happiness to have given one moment's pleasure 
to the great, the good, the ever to be remembered 
Washington ! 

As to the capturer himself, the enthusiasm with 
which he was received when he returned to his 
camp at Tiverton, must have been highly gratify- 
ing. While mounted on a wood-pile, he rehearsed 
the story, giving all the credit of the transaction 
to his trusty soldiers who accompanied him . Some 
of his hearers made the remark, that there wa& 



APPENDIX. 127 

no office that could have been put in their g-ift, but 
what they would have freely bestowed upon him 
at that moment. It is much to be regretted that 
the whole of the names of those brave men were 
not preserved. There was a soldier by the name 
of Daniel Page, a descendant of the Narragansett 
tribe of Indians, who discovered great bravery 
and presence of mind on the occasion. After leav- 
ing the Overing house with their prisoner, this 
man recollected that General Prescott's sword was 
left behind, and imagining he could find it and re- 
gain the company, he retured back to the house, 
and groped his way to the room, found the sword 
and overtook the company before they regained 
the shore, and presented the sword to Colonel 
Barton. This poor man never lived to get his 
pension; he resided in the neighborhood of Fall 
River, where the remains of his family still are. 
Persons may wonder he was not mentioned in the 
communication of Colonel Barton; but it may be 
accounted for in three ways. It might have es- 
caped the recollection of the Colonel ivho handed 
him the sword, or he might possibly have been 
ignorant of the manner in which it was obtained, 
or he might have thought it invidious to particu- 
larize any, where all were so brave, and each, as 
it were, took his life in his hand. We forgot to 
mention that the negro servant who attended the 
Colonel in that expedition, was sometimes called 
Jack Sisson, and in fact this was his name. How 
it happened that he had an alias to it we cannot 
tell. 

The names of the immortal forty who composed 
this heroic band, are here inserted. 
List of the followers of Barton at the capture of Prescott. 

Officers. 
Andrew Stanton, Samuel Potter, 

Ebenezer Adams, John Wilcox. 



128 



APPENDIX. 



JVbn- Commissioned Officers. 
Joshua Babcock, Samuel Phillips. 



Benjamin Prew, 
James Potter^ . 
Henry Fisher, 
James Parker, 
Joseph Guild, 
Nathan Smith, 
Isaac Brown, 
Billington Crumb, 
James Flaines, 
Samuel Apis, 
Alderman Crank, 
Oliver Simmons, 
Jack Sherman, 
Joel Brigg-s, 
Clark Packard, 
Samuel Cory, 
James Weaver, 
Clark Crandall, 
Sampson George, 



Privates, 

Joseph Ralph, 
Jedediah Grenale, 
Richard Hare, 
Daniel Wale, 
Joseph Denis, 
William Bruff, 
Charles Havett, 
Pardon Cory, 
Thomas Wilcox, 
Jeremiah Thomas, 
John Hunt, 
Thomas Austin, 
Daniel Page, a Narra- 

gansett. 
Tack Sisson, the Black, 

and boat stearer, 
Howe or Whiting, boat 

stearer. 



John Hunt, James Weaver, and Samuel Cory, 
belonged to the neighborhood where Prescott was 
encamped, and were perfectly acquainted with ev- 
ery spot of ground in its vicinity, and after they 
disembarked these acted as guides. The greatest 
precaution was used in muffling the oars ; and 
Avhen at Warwick Neck, the boats were hid in the 
bushes until they were ready to start again. The 
wits of those days composed a song on the occa- 
sion, which they used to sing much to the annoy- 
ance of the English in their neighborhood. It is 
related that after Prescott had returned to his sta- 
tion at Newport, at one of their carousals, he 
insisted on a song, when one of the company ob- 
served, "There is a bov in the kitchen who is a 



APPENDIX 129 

famous singer." Prescott had him called in, and 
commanded him to sing:. The child said he did 
not recollect any except that about Barton's tak- 
ing Prescott ; and immediately sung the follow 
inq- : 

The day was spent, the evening fair. 
When Barton marched his men with care 

Down to the river's side ; 
And unto them most nobly said — 
" Let none embark who are afraid 

To cross the sweUing tide." 

But they, like hardy sons of Mars, 
hmred to hardships and to wars, 

Most nobly did reply : 
" With manly rage our souls on fire, 
We vscorn the thought for to retire ; 

We conquer will, or die." 

Thus did they cross and march away, 
Where Prescott's host encamped lay, 

On hostile measures bent ; 
Young David took this bloody Saul, 
And sentry, aid-de-camp, and all ; 

Back to the boat they went. 

You watchful host who round him kepi, 
To guard your Generel while he slept. 

Now you have lost your head ; 
Since they from freedom's happy shore, 
Returned and brought their booty o'er, 

The hero from his bed. 

Go to your king, and to him say, 
"Call home your troops, call them away. 

Or Prescott's fate they 'II share." 
For Barton, with his sling and stone, 
Will bring the great Goliah down, 

And catch him in a snare. 



130 APPENDIX. 

It is related that Prescott made the best of it ; 
commended the boy for his singing, and gave him 
half a crown. 

It is much to be regretted, that a false modesty, 
or some strange whim, prevented several of these 
brave men from accepting a commission, which 
they had offered : they would then have enjoyed 
a pension adequate to their wants. They seemed 
to think because they had not an education they 
were incompetent to hold a commission. The 
subsequent adventures of these persons would be 
highly interesting ; but history and tradition have 
left us in the dark respecting most of them. Sam- 
uel Cory fought in several battles afterwards. He 
was in Sullivan's expedition, and fought bravely 
on Lawton's Hill, where he was the last one to 
retreai, and being pursued by a party of Hessians, 
faced about and fired his ramrod at them, not hav- 
ing time to load. He then fled and gained his 
company. Several tinfies he fought in a platoon 
where he was almost the only one that escaped. 
He afterwards fought in the battles of Trenton, 
Princeton, and Monmouth, with the Rhode-Island 
regiment. He was afterwards engaged in priva- 
teering, and, with- James Weaver, engaged in sev- 
eral desperate skirmishes in the " General Ar- 
nold," a sloop that in the early part of the contest 
v/as very successful, but which, like its great 
namesake, was finally caught by the British. She 
was taken in Long-Island Sound, where her Cap- 
tain had the temerity to engage five times his 
force. After a terrible slaughter he received a 
ball in the forehead, when the remainder, taking 
advantage of night coming on, fled to the Con- 
necticut shore, and begged their way home to 
Rhode-Island. Weaver is now dead. Samuel 
Cory is living, 86 years of age. 



APPENDIX. 131 

Samuel Cory, who is still living-, relates a hu- 
morous anecdote of Prescott, after his landing at 
Warwich Neck. The prisoner made great com- 
plaint of having no shoes ; his feet were much 
scratched and swollen, and Colonel Barton pro- 
cured a pair of one of the officers at Warwick, for 
him; and told Samuel to take them up to him, and 
put them on. Sam took the shoes, and Prescott 
protested he could not wear them, his feet were 
so swelled, and they would not fit, &c. But Sam 
very deliberately sat himself down, and went 
about putting them on, saying, his orders were to 
put them on to General Presfptt, not to see wheth- 
er they fitted, and that he must obey orders. It 
was in vain the captive General remonstrated, and 
writhed about with most hideous contortions of 
countenance, Sam kept at work with the gravest 
face, although ready to burst with laughter, until 
he had forced the shoes on. Sam thought the 
General must have founc^ut, on that occasion, 
"where the shoe pinchedT' 



Note E. 

Character of Prescott. 

It seems impossible a being possessing common 
sense, could have practiced such intolerable arro- 
gance, as he was accused of, and deep malignity 
too. The reader is no doubt familiar with his 
jnethods of exacting outward marks of respect from 
the Quakers and others: they may not be with the 
many cruel methods he devised to punish such 
omissions. An anecdote was narrated to us a few 
days since quite characteristic of him. 

During one of his perambulations about the 
streets he chanced to meet with one Elisha An- 
thony, a member of the Society of Friends, and one 



^32 APPENDIX. 

from the Friend in passing, called out to know 
" why he did not take his hat off !" Friend Anthony 
said '' it was against his principle to show those 
signs of respect to man." Prescott then ordered 
his servant to knock off his hat, which he did, and 
they passed on, leaving the Friend who very coolly 
picked up his broad-brim, and went on. Now this 
Mr. Anthony, whose residence was on the corner 
of King-street, (one would think the people of 
Newport had heard enough of Kings, to alter the 
name,) possessed a span of the finest horses on the 
island, and he attended and caressed them with 
almost as much tendg^ness as he would have be- 
stowed upon human beings, and the very next 
day Prescott sent for these horses, saying he 
wanted them to carry an express to Boston. What 
he did with one of them is not known, but Mr. 
Anthony having occasion to go out on the island 
next day, found one of them rode to death on the 
road side. The poor J^se was dying, and as his 
master came up to him he recognized him, and 
lifting his head from the ground, gave him one 
such pitiful and reproachful look as penetrated 
his heart. He said he never could get over the 
feeling it gave him. Warned by this instance of 
malice, Mr. Anthony secreted his cow and other 
domestic animals in his kitchen. He had a broth- 
er who lived about a quarter of a mile off, whose 
house took fire, some little time after, and Pres- 
cott would not permit fire to be cried, nor anyone 
to go to assist them. He was terribly afraid of a 
bustle, which makes good the saying, " There is 
nothing so quiet as despotism." Elisha Anthony 
took his brother's family to his own house. All 
they could do for the other was to look on quietly 
and see it burn. No wonder Prescott was sent 
back to Newport after his exchange. He was a 
worthy minion of arbitrary power, though if he 



APPENDIX. 133 

had had the feelings of a man he would rather 
have been hanged than to have appeared there 
again. And yet this man could enjoy festivity. 
The round of feasting and frolicking still went on 
amidst the groans of the captive, the half famish- 
ed and oppressed. He still continued, as Trum- 
bull has it, "To dance the ladies to allegiance.'^ 

We do not suppose all the British officers there 
were of his stamp ; on the contrary, it was said he 
was an object of universal aversion to them, and 
instances of humanity have been recorded of some 
of them. On the occasion of the terrible flogging 
of Thomas Austin, recorddi in the Life of Bar- 
ton, one of the British officers, when he was suf- 
fered to go on parole to his house, forced upon 
him two guineas, doubtless thinking to help him 
off, whispering at the same time, " Do n't mind 
it, my brave fellow, your scars are honorable 
ones." It is refreshing k) meet such instances 
among so much barbarisiffil 

At the time of the evacuation of the island, 
General Prescott gave orders for every one to 
keep within doors, and not be seen when his 
troops marched down to embark ; and for three 
nights previous orders were issued for no lights 
to be seen in the dwellings. All this he professed 
was done for the safety of the inhabitants, but the 
inhabitants did not give him credit for such gen- 
erosity. No one believed there was such insub- 
ordination in his army, and the object was gener- 
ally understood to be twofold; first, to conceal the 
diminution in his ranks, which desertion and the 
battle of Rhode-Island had caused, and secondly, 
to keep out of sight the property they were bear- 
ing out before the eyes of the plundered inhabi- 
tants. Of course the forbidding them to look only 
increased the desire, and every plan was devised 
12 



134 APPENDIX. 

to see them without being seen. One lady had 
the temerity to undraw the curtain as they passed, 
when instantly an officer observing it, drew a pis- 
tol from his holster and discharged it at the win- 
dow. 

And oh ! what a scene of ruin and devastation 
presented itself upon their departure ! Every 
thing of value they could conveniently carry off 
was gone, and every thing left nearly ruined ; the 
beautiful gardens torn up and all the trees cut 
down and burnt. The dreadful winter of 1779 
and '80, which succeeded, was one of intense suf- 
fering. ♦ 

The French soon after quartered at Newport, 
and to the honor of that gallant people be it said, 
they did every thing to heal the wounds of the 
inhabitants. Besides the protection of their pres- 
ence, they continued to make themselves agreea- 
ble and useful in various ways. Their soldiers 
were trained to resp^lH the property of every 
one, and during the whole time they were on the 
island the whole amoimt of injury done by them 
was said not to exceed one hundred dollars, and 
yet their necessities were great ; fuel, the first 
winter, was so scarce that people had to burn their 
furniture to preserve themselves from perishing. 



Note F. 

During the occupancy of Rhode-Island by the 
enemy, some shocking scenes were enacted im- 
mediately under the observation of our soldiers 
stationed on Tiverton heights, (where the remains 
of their forts are still to be seen.) At several differ- 
ent times deserters who had left the British army, 
and successfully gained the shore, were shot iii 



APPENDIX. 135 

the water in the attempt to swim across, where 
the stone bridge at Howiand's ferry now is. 

Their fate excited the deepest commisseration, 
and all the more, as some of them were native 
born Americans, who had been compelled to en- 
ter the enemy's service. On several different oc- 
casions, they succeeded in taking- off individuals 
from Tiverton, and drag-ging- them on board their 
prison ships. At one time they were discovered 
and pursued, and one man escaped, Thomas Bor- 
den, (one of the Fall River Bordens.) He elud- 
ed his pursuers, and crept into a ledge of rocks a 
{ew miles below Fail River : the aperture was 
scarcely large enough, as one of the old soldiers 
observed, to hold a woodchuck, and it was with 
difficulty he could get out, after the flight of the 
enemy, who had been chased by a party of Amer- 
icans, and who, when they beheld him covered 
with blood, supposed him to be a spirit. The in- 
dividuals made prisoners in this manner were not 
soldiers, nor persons taken with arms in their 
hands, but farmers, peaceably pursuing their oc- 
cupations. Dragged from their families, and im- 
mured in those loathsome prison ships, among the 
suflfering prisoners described by Dr. Isaac Center, 
the Hospital Surgeon, in the former pages of this 
book. 

So daring had these depredators become, that 
it was found necessary to organize a company on 
purpose to keep watch all.along the shore, at con- 
venient distances, and there being a deficiency of 
men, a party of boys, the oldest not more than 
sixteen, (as is believed,) were engaged for the 
service. Some of them occasionally were much 
frightened, but in general they acquitted them- 
selves bravely. 

In Bristol, a company of boys had set the ex- 
ample of organizing to assist the military in any 



136 APPENDIX. 

way they should be wanted, and at the burning 
of Bristol these little lads remained in the place, 
and although from their tender years unable to 
defend it, yet upon the departure of the enemy 
they were of material service in arresting the 
progress of the flames, saving the property, &c. 



Note G. 

The English vessels that guarded the entrance 
of the Seconnet river, and occasionally came up, 
nearly to where the Stone Bridge now is, were a 
great annoyance. Sometimes, however, they 
would get aground on the Tiverton or Little 
Compton side, where the water is very shoal, and 
occasion much trouble to themselves, and at one 
time a large privateer of the enemy was run 
aground on the shore at Little Compton, juPt be- 
low the farm of Deacon Brownell, where tli^ ene- 
my were obliged to burn her and make their es- 
cape. 

One of the greatest exploits in these waters was 
performed by a Captain Talbot, who in a little 
craft called a Shaving Mill^ surprized a row galley 
of the enemy in the night and succeeded in cap- 
turing her, while surrounded by English vessels, 
and before morning they had her safe into Ston- 
ington. She was boarded, and the sentinels were 
so suddenly surprized as to be unable to give the 
alarm ; the hatches were immediately fastened 
down, and a guard set over the Captain, who, be- 
ing surprized in his berth, was exceeding wroth, 
and, as Captain Talbot used to tell the story, 
'^ Notwithstanding they threatened to shoot him, 
he kept scratching at his cabin door all night." 
Upon looking out next morning and seeing the lit- 



APPENDIX. 137 

tie craft hitched on behind, he said, " My God ! 
have I been taken by an egg shell ?" The sold- 
iers ever after, by way of eminence, used to call 
his captor, " Admiral Talbot." 



Note H. 

Tiverton witnessed much sufl'ering of a domes- 
tic nature during the time the enemy were in pos- 
session of Rhode-Island*. The people were often 
called to divide their morsel with the suffering in- 
habitants, who, from time to time, came over, and 
who came off at the surrender of the town of 
Newport, and lingered about the opposite shore 
in hopes their sta}^ might be short, and they be 
permitted to go back and collect the remnants of 
their property. 

The many cases of individual suffering can never 
be ascertained, and in fact, it would include an 
inventory of the whole island, with the exception 
of a few tory families. 

A venerable and respectable citizen of Ports- 
mouth, now living, and one who has for many 
years filled a place in our legislature and on the 
bench of justice, in conversation the other day, 
narrated to us his own recollections of the suffer- 
ings of his family during that trying period ; and 
as it furnished quite a history of what were the 
trials of so many, we hope he will excuse our re- 
cording it, although it was given without the least 
idea of our giving publicity to it. 

" I was," said the venerable Judge, ^' but seven 
years old when the British first entered Newport, 
yet I distinctly recollect the state of alarm and 
constant excitement during that period. My fa- 
ther occupied a small house, built on his own land, 
12* 



!38 APPENDIX. 

about three miles equi-distant from Bristol and 
Howland's ferries. I have but little recollection of 
what took place, particularly, until one day when 
the Americans, under Sullivan, were retreating 
from Rhode-Island. I recollect on the last day 
but one of the fight, the continual firing which 
gradually grew nearer the house, as the American 
army continued their retreat in that direction. 
Presently four soldiers passed, having a young 
man on a blanket, which they held by the four 
corners. He was badly wounded, and afterwards 
died at the Providence hospital, where he was 
sent ; he refused to have his legs amputated, and 
the wounds gangrened. His name was James 
Pettis. I recollect we were much shocked as they 
stopped at our well for water ; but still more so, 
when allying party averred they had left a wound- 
ed comrade on the field, one John ('ampbell, whom 
they feared the enemy would kill, when they came 
up with him ; and we afterwards learnt they did. 
The English and Hessians continued to advance, 
and the firing came so near, my father judged it 
prudent to retreat to the cellar. While there, a 
party of Hessians came into the yard and house, 
and finding we were in the cellar, came round to 
the outside entrance, and pointed their guns down. 
A number of glistening bayonets were visible stick- 
ing into the cellar, when instantly a most horrible 
yell was heard ; a party of Americans from be- 
hind the wall had sprang over and surprised and 
made prisoners of them. They passed off", closely 
guarded, and the firing seemed to pass off in an- 
other direction. It was the close of day, and an 
American soldier rushed into the house and threw 
himself on the floor completely exhausted, saying, 
he could go no farther. By degrees he became 
restored, and he then told os of what he had just 
witnessed, A party of the enemy came up to the 



APPENDIX. i;yj 

house of an aged man, and commanded him to 
draw water for them ; and while the venerable 
man tottered to the w^ell, they barbarously shot 
him in the back. 

Nothing seemed to give my parents so much 
alarm as this. (We have forgotten the name of this 
man.) My father said it was time to Hy, and bun- 
dling up a few things of absolute necessity, and 
driving the cow before us, we set out, eight chil- 
dren of us, and the youngest a babe of three iveeks 
old in my mother's arms. Favored by the dark- 
ness, for it was now evening, and acquainted with 
every step of ground, we succeeded in getting to 
Hou'land's ferry, and with our cow, on board a 
boat, we got safely over, and my father and eldest 
brother, and one or two others, went over the 
same night, and brought over the beds. In the 
mean time, the American soldier, left in full pos- 
session, had taken his leave, and all he could car- 
ry with him, probably thinking the enemy would 
get all lie left. The next day they ventured over 
again, and brought ofl' some furniture, &c.; that 
was the last day of the retreat. 

The old gentleman went on to tell us, that pro- 
curing a sorry tenement at Tiverton they com- 
menced a life of extreme hardship and privation; 
that for about a year, he could say in truth they 
went hungry. The mother used to divide their 
food at each meal, and allowance them. They 
used to milk their cow three tinies a day, and after 
baking a Johny-cake, mark it out in so many lots, 
and give each to one with their allowance of milk; 
and the patient mother took her portion with the 
rest, although one of them drew its nourishment 
from her bosom. 

By degrees this source of sustenance failed them ; 
the cow stopped giving milk, and then was pinch- 
ing times. " I recollect," said the venerable nar- 



^40 APFENDLX. 

rator, '^and I remember it distinctly, (for it was 
the only time I ever was tempted to take what 
did not belong" to me,) going to a neighbor's to get 
some milk, and while the woman went out to get 
it, { observed a dish of cold Indian dumplings, prob- 
ably intended for the hog-pail ; I watched my 
chance, and grasping a handfull, pocketed them 
safely before the old lady's return; and from that 
time to this, I have no remembrance of any thing' 
half so good as those dumplings." 

This family continued to linger in the neighbor- 
hood, the boys working at ever}^ thing they could 
do, and the father devising every honest method 
to keep his family from starving. " Some of the 
boys were among those set to watch the enemy, 
and notwithstanding our hardships we grew as 
rugficed as colts," said the narrator, "until the 
evacuation of Rhode-Island." 

Upon the very first news, the family packed up, 
and proceeded on their return; upon passing the 
ferry they let the cow loose; and she went strait 
to her old place. But alas! v/hen the family ar- 
rived, there stood the cow ruminating^ but there 
was no house ; the cellar was left, and that was 
all. Captain Brady, of the royal artillery, had ta- 
ken a fancy to it, and not liking its situation exact- 
ly had removed it about half a mile otF. The fam- 
ily learning its location, once more took their line 
of march, and went on, and for that winter (the 
ever memorable hard winter,) resided in it, where 
it stood; the next Spring they moved it back to its 
former place. 

It does not appear through the whole of this 
scene of hardship there was any thing like mur- 
muring; the family considered their suiferings as 
the fate of war, and confidently relying on Prov- 
idence, looked trustingly forward to a happy ter-- 
mination of oor national trialB.. 



APPENDIX- 141 

The Cory family seemed a peculiarly patriotic 
«ne ; two of the brothers, Samuel and Pardon, 
were among- the capturers of Prescott ; and the 
third, Thomas, was the head of the family of whose 
sufferings we have been speaking. His son, Tho- 
mas Cory, the narrator of this article, married a 
daughter of Lieutenant Wilcox, one of those who 
went ahead in the enterprise of taking Prescott. 

This brief record of the trials of an individual 
family, may be considered as an epitome of the 
whole of those nearly, who had to get off* from 
Rhode-Island at that time. The hardihood with 
which they endured, is a lesson never to be for- 
gotten. Such, Americans, were our fathers and 
our mothers ! 



Note I. 

Although almost all men in camp are supposed 
to be more or less addicted to profane langauge, 
it does not appear to have been a practice of Col. 
Barton. On one occasion only, of high provocation, 
have we any account of an oath. The blank in 
the history of the burning of Bristol, was nothing 
more than a simple Yankee phrase of " by George," 
then much used. Upon looking back, w^e perceive 
it may have been understood in a different sense. 
The other applied to the cowardly villain who had 
just fired the dwellings over the heads of defence- 
less women and children, and yet shrunk from en- 
countering his antagonist, is genuine. 



Note J . 

Narragansett bay, at the time of Barton's ex- 
ploit, was completely blockaded by the British : 



342 APPENDIX. 

the Lark, the Diamond, and the Jiino, with their 
g-oard-boats, were lying- on the east side of Pru- 
dence, and it was from these boats as they passed 
round the south end of it, that they distinctly heard 
the cry of '- all 's well ". During the time the 
British had possession of Newport, a correspon- 
dence was kept up with certain individuals on the 
island, and the main at Little-Compton. 

By this means, there was no movement of the 
enemy there, but wdiat was made known immedi- 
aiely. They had a signal on the island, of letting 
down a pair of bars which could be seen with a 
spy glass on the opposite side; afterwards for fear 
of suspicion, the signal w^as changed to opening a 
barn window ; these w^ere to indicate a clear coast, 
when a messenger might come over in safety; 
and tliey also had a hiding place in the same 
neighborhood, to desposite written communica- 
tions under a stone; and it was at this place, and 
in this manner the inhabitants of the island be- 
came acquainted first, with the surrender of Bur- 
goyne's army. It is said the paper containing the 
intelligence, is still preserved in that neighbor- 
hood, in the family of a Mr. Barker. 



LIFE OF CAPTAIN STEPHEN OLNEV 

OF RHODE.ISLANl). 



LIFE OF CAPTAIN STEPHEN OLNEY. 



Stephen Olney, the subject of this memoir, was 
born in the town of North Providence, and Colony^ 
as it was then called, of Rhode-Island and Pro- 
vidence Plantations, on the 17th of September, 
1756, on a farm, which from the first settlement 
of the State, had been the property of his fami- 
ly, having been purchased by Thomas Olney, a 
contemporary of Roger Williams, and a joint pro- 
prietor in the "Providence Purchase." From 
this person, Stephen Olney was a decendant in 
the fifth generation. It is a circumstance worthy 
of remark, as being almost unparalleled in New- 
England, that one family in regular succession 
continued to occupy the same spot of ground, to 
till the same soil, for a period of nearly two hun- 
dred years. Although the rage of emigration was 
not in an earlier period of our history what it is 
now; yet it has often been remarked in this section 
of the country, that it was rare that one family 
tenanted the same place for more than three gen- 
erations. 

The family of OIneys have been a numerous and 
scattered one; branches of it are now to be found 
in the east and west, north and south of our ex- 
tensive territory; but at the period of the revolu- 
tionary war, most of them resided in the vicinity 
13 



14G LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

of Providence, and were content to remain where 
tlieir ancestors had conquered the wilderness and 
reduced the stubborn soil to a state of cultivation. 
Captain Olney was, as we observed before, the 
fifth in succession, who had been content to spend 
his days and be married and buried in the same 
place with his fathers. 

The ancestors of Captain Olney were a primi- 
tive race, and some of the more remote, of puri- 
tanic memory. In Rhode-Island, however, where 
there was no persecution to keep alive their zeal, 
gradually the peculiarities of tlieir religion van- 
ished. The real Cameronian spirit could not exist 
for any length of time without opposition. In 
Connecticut alone, where the fierceness of their 
demeanor, and tyranny of their exactions, stirred 
up a perpetual spirit of revolt and resistance, 
did it survive for any length of time ? In Rhode- 
Island, as every one knows perfect freedom in re- 
spect to religious opinions and ordinances was 
proclaimed from the first : Roger Williams himself, 
a persecuted and a banished man, on account of 
his opinions, had laid the foundation broad and 
deep, for religious liberty ; and from this cause, 
probably the spirit of puritanism languished from 
the time it crossed the borders from the neighbor- 
ing State, as Trumbull says, 

"They found their zeal when not confined, - 
Soon sink below the freezing point." 

We are not to suppose however that the spirit 
of devotion, the essence of piety, fled with the spir- 
it of puritanism in Rhode-Island, or elsewhere. 
In peace and rural quiet the virtues of our forefa- 
thers had leisure to expand. While no longer 
subjected to restraints and persecutions that in a 
manner sanctified them in their eyes, their odious 
peculiarities vanished. 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. |47 

Puritanism however, had its beneficial effects 
in America; it was the means under Providence 
of preparing the minds of the people of New Eng- 
land for the glorious stand they were one day to 
take in the cause of civil liberty and independence. 
True that some of their doctrines and practices 
bordered on the ridiculous. Yet withal, there was 
a plainness, a simplicity, a spirit of self-renuncia- 
tion, and self-devotion, that characterized them, 
long after the more revolting traits had ceased to 
exist, that paved the way for a government more 
accordant to gospel simplicity than any that had 
ever been known on the earth, since the days of 
the Patriarchs. 

Aside from loyality from that feeling of depend- 
ence, and the duty of allegiance which they were 
taught they ovv^ed the monarchical government of 
Great Britain, there was something in the eti- 
quette of a court, the glare and glitter, and vain 
parar! ' of royalty excited feelings of loathing and 
disgust, whenever they were obliged to be specta- 
tors of it, or to listen to the bombastic descriptions 
with which the few papers that then found their 
way to the colony, were sure to be stuffed. The 
very language in common use in that day, when 
speaking of these things, had become an abomin- 
ation; and there was a gradual but a sure change 
going on, a preparation of hearty as the Quakers 
term it, from the time that the country first gave 
the assurance of being populous and prosperous. 
Of course, no efforts could have been made in the 
country at an earlier period, for its emancipation, 
and would not have been as premature as it was, 
had not the rash and unwise exactions of the Brit- 
ish government have pushed them on to take up 
arms when they did. It was in JVetv England, be 
it remembered, where the fire of patriotism first 
kindled. In Massachusetts the ancient headquar- 



148 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

ters of Puritanism, where the first blow was struck 
for liberty. 

Captain Olney had passed his short and tranquil 
life, in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture; having- 
no wishes beyond the boundaries of his farm, in 
plenty and riu-al quiet: the sound of war, and in- 
deed of contention of any kind had never disturbed 
his habitation. He had just married, married the 
woman of his choice, and though only bordering 
on his 20th year, had quietly settled down to pass 
the residue of his days in cultivating his farm, in 
rearinsf up a family and walking in the footseps of 
his fathers. How vain are the calculations of 
man! Could some warning angel have suddenly 
stood at his bed-side and lifted the curtain of futu- 
rity before the eyes of the youthful bridegroom, 
in those, his days of the greatest felicity, he was 
ever to know on earth; could the scenes of car- 
nage and bloodshed, he was doomed to witness 
and to participate in, have been revealed to liini 
then, the nights of wearisome watching In the 
tented field, the days of harassing fatigue, the 
pains of hunger, the pinching cold, the ''flight in 
the winter season," and all the woes he was to 
witness and to suffer, it is doubtful whether the 
very prospect would not have overwhelmed him; 
whether he would not have shrunk from partici- 
pation in the contest. 

Yet it was from this his earliest dream of love 
and happiness that the stern mandate of duty to 
his country compelled him to awake, and the 
greatest of all possible tributes we can pay to his 
memory, is to say, he arose and left all, and fol- 
lowed it. 

Our business is not in this place to give a histo- 
ry of the war, or the immediate or remote causes 
that produced it. Yet we are obliged to speak of 
the situation of affairs in the immediate neighbor- 



LIFE OF STEPIIflN OLNEY. 149 

hood to which the hero of our story belonged. 
Rhode-Island was, at the time our story com- 
mences, in about as much trouble as any of her 
sister States, and in fact, the most exposed of all ; 
and next to her nighest neighbor, the Bay State, 
in rather the most trying situation. She was not 
only menaced on her sea board, but divided at 
home ; and thwarted, and contradicted, and per- 
plexed, by some of the most contrary, stubborn, 
disobliging, crabbed, self-sufficient, wavering, and 
two-sided public officers, tfiat ever one little State 
was troubled with. Many of them who had won- 
derfully helped to get up the excitement, by 
speeches, remonstrances, and resolves, and who 
had winked at the tea affair, the destruction of the 
Gaspee, &c. now that the contest had come to 
blows, began to back out, and be amazed that the 
people should think of taking up arms, and §hock- 
ed beyond expression that such a rebellious spirit 
should have got abroad, and although few of these 
comparatively threw up their possessions, and de- 
parted from the country, which their shuffling 
policy impelled them to desert ; yet they found 
this a rampart behind which to shelter themselves 
in the coming storm, a fence upon which they 
continued to seesaw, until towards the close of the 
Revolution, when all danger of their getting into 
hot water being over, many of them suddenly be- 
gan to be very patriotic, and with great public 
spirit came in for their share of the spoils. 

At the time of which we are speaking, howev- 
er, these prudent individuals held back, and kept 
themselves aloof, nor could all the remonstrances 
of their irritated and aggrieved fellow-citizen» 
bring them forward. 

Captain Stephen Olney, the subject of this me* 
moir, had, as early as the year 1774, become a 
13* 



150 I^IFE OF STETHEN OLNEY. 

private in a chartered military company, called 
the North-Providence Rangers ; their object being, 
as he states in his manuscript, "to learn military 
tactics, and to be prepared to act in defence of 
our country's rights." The history and political 
writings of the day will account for the enthusi- 
asm with which they engaged in this undertaking. 
He adds, 

''In May, 1775, the Colony of Rhode-Island or- 
dered three regiments to be raised for the protec- 
tion of the Colony, and as part of an army of ob- 
servation, and I," says Captain Olney, " was hon- 
ored with an Ensign's commission in Captain John 
Angell's company, second Rhode-Island regiment, 
commanded by Colonel Hitchcock. Who recom- 
mended me I do not know ; but it was not by my 
own intercession. But perhaps they chose me 
because they could get no better, so many were 
deterred from embarking in the cause for fear they 
might be hanged up for rebels by order of our then 
gracious sovereign, George III. I accepted this 
commission with much diffidence as to my qualifi- 
cations ; my education was but common for that 
day, and worst of all, what I had learned was 
mostly wrong." Perhaps a more sensible remark 
does not occur in the narrative. Besides being 
very superficial, so many radical errors were then 
prevalent in the manner and matter of education, 
in that comparatively dark age, that we look back 
with astonishment. As to himself, the Captain 
observes, " I had no fear that our gracious sove- 
reign would think me worth hanging for a rebel." 
Too many subsequently found out, that if subal- 
terns were in no danger of hanging, there were 
ways of despatch provided for them when taken. 
Captain Angell, he says, was a very pleasant man, 
and a real patriot ; Coggeshall Olney, his first 
Lieutenant, was active and full of fire, jealous that 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 151 

people were apt to slight him, but an honest, faith- 
ful officer. They were eight or ten years older 
than myself, and very friendly — so I looked on 
them as my protectors. And we found no difficul- 
ty in recruiting our company for eight months with 
good men, at the end of which time it was expect- 
ed the dispute would be settled, or that our spirits 
would be settled in another world. 

The first destination of the company to which 
Captain Olney now belonged, was Roxbury, to 
join the forces there, under the command of Gen. 
Nathaniel Greene, which consisted of three regi- 
ments, viz. : Colonel Daniel Hitchcock's, Colonel 
Thomas Church's and Colonel James M. Varnum's. 
They were raised, as Captain Olney says, without 
any trouble, armed and equipped in much better 
plight, than many of the undisciplined and half- 
equipped companies forming the motley parade at 
Roxbury. 

But now a new difficulty most unexpected and 
unlooked for intervened to prevent their immedi- 
ate departure. The patriotic Representatives of 
Rhode-Island were harassed with opposition from 
within, as well as from without. In Rhode-Island 
where the first decisive act of hostility had been 
perpetrated in the destruction of the Liberty, and 
the burning of the Gaspee, there were many vio- 
lent tories, who opposed all the measures of the 
friends of liberty in every way, until the contest 
had progressed so far that they themselves were 
obliged to quit the country and seek safety under 
the shadow of arbitrary power ; but by far tlie 
most difficult to get along with were those who 
were in favor of halfway measures. Those mon- 
grel patriots, that we have made mention of in a 
former page of this book — many of them in Rhode- 
Island, had been very instrumental, as the British 
had it, " in setting this hurly burly agoing," and 



152 LIFE OF 3TKPIlE:r OLNEY. 

either had not courage to carry it through, or 
could not give up their preference to hereditary 
greatness, their love for the pomp and parade of 
royalty and nobility, or were extremely conscien- 
tious respecting their oaths of allegiance and duty 
to the parent country, or it might be, not quite 
certain of the event, and resolved to keep on the 
safe side. Numbers of those persons 'had gone 
hitherto every step with their patriotic brethren^ 
until the contest was about to come to blows. 
Persons who in the onset were foremost in re- 
monstrances and speeches, &c. now that their 
own measures began to take effect, drew back. 

Among those who halted at this time, to the as- 
tonishment of many, and the regret of all, was the 
Governor, Joseph Wanton, of Newport. He had 
in the beginning gone with the people, but now that 
affairs had began to assume a more serious aspect, 
that the measures they had been agreeing to had 
had their full effect, that war with all its horrors 
stared them in the face, that it was no longer a 
question, should we sit tamely down and be still, 
while remonstrances and petitions were treated 
with contemptuous silence, or answered at the 
point of the bayonet, the Governor discovered 
that he abhored treason, and protested that while 
argument or pursuasion or petition were alone re- 
sorted to, he was as willing as any, to assist in it, 
but when it came to fighting, it was quite another 
affair, and positively and obstinately refused to 
countenance the resort to arms, by signing the 
commisions of the officers appointed to command 
in this expedition; it was in vain that reasoning 
vt^as resorted to, in vain that the indignant niem- 
bers urged that to have gone thus far and stop 
now, would be worse, infinitely worse, than to 
have remained passive before. That the British 
Lion had now shown thenn his teeth, and besides 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 153 

that the spirit of liberty (so long* fostered by patri- 
otic speeches and resolutions) was now abroad in 
the coimtr}^ and had taken possession of all ranks. 
That blood had been shed, and that the sword that 
was now leaping from the scabbard, it was evident 
could not be sheathed until the country was free, 
or reduced to hopeless and unconditional submis- 
sion. That the eyes of mankind in this region 
had become opened now to a divine right of kings 
until it had ceased to become a question; that the 
Governor was bound by every obligation to take 
part with his suffering countrymen, and finally hop- 
ing that patriotic feelings would at length influence 
him on the morrow, the Legislature ajourned. 

What was to be done ? Should he refuse, the 
Governor knew the contempt at least, of an irrita- 
ted people, w^ould pursue him; the loss of oflice was 
certain. But again, should he accede, and put his 
name to the fatal papers, what might not the con- 
sequences be ? If the friends of freedom failed 
ultimately in their enterprise, the cause would be 
branded as " treasonable rebellion," and the aid- 
ers and abettors thereof, hung and quartered. It 
was too fearful an alternative to risk ; and after 
deliberately weighing the probabilities of the case, 
the Governor resolved to go no further ; and at 
the next meeting made his protest against " hav- 
ing any hand in arming and equipping men to fight 
against his sovereign." Thus saying, in effect, 
that while talking was all that was required of 
him, he was as ready to talk as other men, but 
fighting was another affair ; that five cents upon a 
pound of tea, and a few shillings upon a stamped 
paper, used only upon occasions when people might 
be supposed to be able to pay for it, was a most 
intolerable grievance, and worthy to throw the 
whole country into confusion, because it took mo- 
ney from the pockets of the people ; but that the 



154 ^^^"^^ OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

shedding of blood wantonly was a trifle, and called 
for mature deliberation, whether we should resort 
to it or not. That the great principles of self-gov- 
ernment, of liberty and independence, were things 
of doubtful origin and uncertain tendency, but the 
taking away a few dollars from a man's pocket, 
was a thing that admitted of no manner of doubt, 
its vmavoidable tendency being to make him poor- 
er, he had therefore felt himself called upon to re 
sist such demands ; but the demand of allegiance 
to an arbitrary and despotic power, not founded 
upon the choice of the people, but originating in 
accident, and maintained by brute force, that is, 
military despotism, was a thing not to be disputed. 

We do not say that the Governor gave utterance 
to just such sentiments ; for had he, Governor or 
no Governor, the Legislature would have hurled 
him from his seat without the ceremony of voting 
him out, and the hall w^ould have been cleared of 
him in less than no time^ as Pat says. Oh no, he 
very politely, but firmly declined the honor of put- 
ting his name to a paper (which might hang him,) 
which his conscience could not approve, and re- 
newed his protestations ihathehad been perfectly 
willing to go with his suffering brethren in remon- 
strance, appeal and petition, to redress their griev- 
ances, while that alone w^as resorted to, but he 
was not prepared for an appeal to arms, and should 
not, by his name, sanction any such unlawful and 
rebellious proceedings. 

It was in vain that the General Assembly en- 
deavored to reason the case with him; he was as 
obstinate as a mule. Those who composed the 
State Legislature, had agreed, almost without a 
dissenting voice, and they w^ere not now to be 
baffled by one Governor, or twenty Governors ; 
true they attempted reason, but they might a& 
well have attempted to reason with the little stub- 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. J 55 

born Dutch Governor described in Knickerbocker's 
history of New-York, who never stood it out with 
more obstinancy than the redoubtable Governor 
oi' Rhode-Island. But the Assembly were not to be 
baffled; finding every thing useless in the way of 
argument, they proceeded forthwith to call a vot 
suspending the Governor from his functions. 

They then offered the command of the Capiat>.- 
Gcncralcy to the Deputy Governor, Darius Sessions. 
This gentleman, from motives of delicacy towards 
Governor Wanton, declined. Hitherto the two 
Governors had acted in concert and were firni 
friends, and to be thus set over Governor Wanton 
it seems was so repugnant to the feelings of Gov- 
ernor Sessions that though in a good cause, he 
declined ; consequently, the Legislature v^-ere 
thrown upon their own resources. 

It does not appear that Governor Sessions was 
a tory, at any time. He was a man of quiet de- 
portment, and unfitted for the stormy season in 
which he was called to act ; and probably aside 
from feelings of delicacy towards Governor Wan- 
ton, he disliked the bustle of public life. 

By another vote they then declared themselves 
the sovereign power in the State; elected by the 
sovereign people; and proceeded forthwith, to sign 
the commissions themselves, giving the Governors 
leave to retire until they could have time to make 
better ones. Which they very soon did, in the 
persons of Governors Cook and Bradford, two 
consistent, firm and unwavering Patriots, who 
continued to administer until the close of tlie war. 
Most prudent and providential was the selection; 
fearless and faithful they assisted in conjunction 
with their brethren to steer the ship into the har- 
bor of independence. Peace to their memories; 
-' anotlierage," says Emmett, " may write my epi- 
taph.'' To the firmness, the love of country, the un- 



156 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

tiring' patriotism of Governors Cook and Bradford, 
the State of Rhode-Island owes a lasting obliga- 
tion. In the niost perilous times they dared to 
stand at the helm and direct the vessel of State 
through rocks and quicksands ; the fire from off 
the altar of liberty had warmed their hearts, and 
no cold and calculating questions of expediency 
were for a moment suffered to suggest themselves. 
Months and years have come and gone since the 
sod has been heaped upon their manly breasts, 
yet, has not the recollection of their worth, their 
firmness at the post of duty and of danger, faded 
irom the minds of their grateful countrymen. 

Governors Wanton and Sessions retired, the one 
to his farm, and the other to his merchandise; mean- 
while the v/ar-like preparations inRhode-Island- 
went on. 



CHAPTER II. 



The commissions being duly signed, sealed and 
delivered to the respective commanders, on the 
first of May, 1775, the regiment of Colonel Hitch- 
cock on that day paraded to the North-Providence 
meeiing-house, to put up prayers before their de- 
parture, which was to be next day ; for, accord- 
ing to the pious usages of our forefathers, they re- 
solved not to undertake any thing without first 
asking a blessing upon it. What feelings must 
have swelled the bosoms of that simple congrega- 
tion at such a time ; the mother was there with 



LIFE OF STEPHEiN OLNEY. 157 

her babe in her arms, about to take leave of the 
husband and father; perhaps forever. The aged 
sire, whose gray hairs had been whitening through 
three score years, to oflbr upon the altar of his 
country, the most acceptable sacrifice that could 
be offered; even the one that Abraham was com- 
manded to make. The children went to add the 
lisping prayers of infancy, for the holy cause in 
which their fathers were engaged, for the safety 
of their beloved ones; oh, it was a solemn time, 
when the aged Elder Ezekiel Angell stood and 
commended the souls and bodies of these his youth- 
ful friends and parishioners to the Great Father 
of mankind; the Protector, Defender and Saviour 
of men. What heartfelt prayers, what stifled sobs 
must have agitated the bosbms of the multitude, 
as he spread forth his hands and blest the depart- 
ing host. Spirit of the living God, thou wast 
not invoked in vain! up to the heaven of heavens, 
the prayer of the righteous ascended on that day, 
for the husbands, the fathers, the sons, and broth- 
ers and neighbors, and fellow citizens, of the as- 
sembled multitude. The prayer was said, the 
blessing given, the last fond kiss and fevered 
shake of the hand exchanged, and the little band 
for the first time turned their backs upon their hap- 
py homes, and went forth to meet the enemies of 
freedom, to dare and to die if necessary: the pray- 
er of that day, says Captain Olney, -'was for the 
preparation of our souls, and success in the cause 
in which we were engaged." 

The force, now wending its way to Roxbury, 
consisted as we have stated, of three regiments. 
The first, from the county of Providence, com- 
manded by Colonel Daniel Hitchcock ; Ezekiel 
Cornell, of Scituate, (afterwards General Cornel!, 
and subsequently a member of Congress,) was 
14 



158 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Lieutenant-Colonei, and Israel Angell, of North- 
Providence, Major. 

The second, from the counties of Kent and Kings, 
(afterwards Washington county,) was commanded 
by Colonel James Mitchell Varnum, (afterwardcj 
Gen. Varnum,) and Christopher Greene, Major; 
and including Gen. Nathaniel Greene, who was 
General of the brigade. 

The third, from the counties of Bristol and New- 
port, was commanded by Colonel Thnmas Church, 
a descendant of the famous Captain Church in the 
old Indian wars, and Henry Sherburne, of New- 
port, Major. 

There was also added a company of artillery, 
commanded by Major John Crane. 

Perhaps it is well that melancholy impressions 
dwell not long on the mind of the soldier. "We 
marched along in high spirits," says Captain Olney, 
^'though with rather quivering apprehension, on 
first sight of the British." It seems they had the 
impression that they should have to fight immedi- 
ately, an impression common to new soldiers who 
in the commencement of the first campaign think 
only of the tumult of a battle, a battle lost or won, 
without taking into account the long nights of 
watching and fatigue they may endure. First, 
the toilsome travel by day, faint often with want 
of food, and perhaps with want of a resting place 
to eat it. "- They expected," says Captain Olney, 
'' to be called on to pour out their blood as a sac- 
rifice to their country's cause, or to drive all be- 
fore them." Neither of those events were in re- 
serve for them ; they found themselves after a 
tedious march of forty miles, near Boston, and 
the red coats in sight, strongly fortified, and in 
a much better situation than they had inmgined. 
They, the Americans, were encamped on Jamaica 
Plains, some little distance south-west of Roxbury. 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. Iggr 

where they were drilled to military and camp du- 
ty until the famous battle of Bunker Hill; when the 
enemy began to fire shells and shot into Roxbury 
to draw their attention from Bunker Hill. '^The 
Rhode-Island troops," says he, " v/ere for some 
time drawn up just within reach of their shells, 
and not being acquainted with those sort of mis- 
siles, it was with great difficulty the men could be 
kept in the ranks, especially when they imagined 
a shell was about to light on their heads. It was 
judged when a shell appeared perpendicular, it 
would pass over harmless; but if it began to de- 
scend a little, before it reached that point, it might 
be dangerous; but fear always makes danger, and 
in order to prevent fear from warping my judg- 
ment, I held up my gun by the muzzle as a perpen- 
dicular, and kept my post, as did also our compa- 
ny; although it was reported that part of us ran 
away and I remained collecting their arms." It 
seernfi part of the men only, were sent forward, 
while the others at the foot of the hill acted as a 
kind of reserve, though exposed to nearly as much 
danger as those in the forefront of the battle, and 
without the excitement of personal contest to 
keep up their courage ; whether there was not 
room for all on the hill at once, or whether it was 
judged necessary they should reuiain to cover the 
retreat of the American army, in case they had to 
retreat, v/e cannot teW^ but their commander, be- 
fore the battle was over, considering their position 
unnecessarily hazardous, ordered them to march 
out of danger. The events of that disastrous day 
— even more disastrous to the British than to the 
routed army — are too well known to need recapit- 
ulation here, notwithstanding the superiority of 
numbers, and discipline of the enemy, the Ameri- 
cans would, it is believed, have achieved a most 
perfect victory, had their ammunition held out. 



|t50 I^IFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Their warlike stores being destroyed at Concord 
was a most terrible loss to them, and on several 
occasions beside this, the want of powder and ball 
was the most serious grievance they had to com- 
plain of. 

From this time the Rhode-Island regiment was 
stationed at Prospect Hill, doing fatigue and gar- 
rison duty, and oftentimes exposed to the fire of 
the enemy's artillery, though but few lives were 
lost, and by degrees they became inured to dan- 
ger : it must have added much to their trials, the 
weather being so extremely sultry. The battle 
of Bunker's Rill, it will be recollected was fought 
on one of the hottest days ever known in the 
country. 

Thus, and in skirmishing parties sent out to in- 
tercept the foraging parties of the enemy in the 
neighborhood of Boston, passed the winter of 1775 
and '76, a winter never to be forgotten by the im- 
prisoned inhabitants of Boston, suffering from cold 
and famine, debarred from all communication • ith 
friends without, and constantly dreading treache- 
ry and violence within, what must their sufferings 
have been ? afraid to stir out of their houses for 
fear of the petty insults of hireling soldiers, whose 
jibes and taunts were the least insults dreaded 
from them. 

But if the situation of the American part of the 
population was trying, that of the enemy was not 
without its trials. Their army was not sufficient 
to guard conveniently all the exposed posts of the 
city and peninsula of Charlestown, which by the 
event of the battle of Bunker Hill, had now come 
into their possession. 

The fatigue of their soldiers had multiplied to an 
excessive degree, the heat of the summer being 
so extreme, had debilitated them, and generated 
diseases which had materially thinned their ranks, 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 151 

and paralizcd their movements. Their wounded, 
a great part had died from the influence of climate 
and want of proper food, and no doubt of proper 
care; so that besides the name of winning' the bat- 
tle, they derived no real advantage from the vic- 
tory, if such it could be called, of Bunker Hill. 
Thus proving what ought to be obvious, that a 
people coming from one country to fight another, 
have on the whole much the worst of it. On the 
contrary, in the American camp provision was 
plenty, the greater part of the wounded being ac- 
customed 10 the climate were easily cured, and 
their minds animated with new views, new ardor, 
altogether new feelings. It takes one battle, at 
least, to bring people to the right temperament ; 
and added to this, the American forces in that re- 
gion had something continually in view to inflame 
their patriotism. The lately flourishing and beau- 
tiful village of Charlestown lay before them, a 
lieap of blackened ruins. How was it possible to 
look on it and reflect upon the destitute families 
turned adrift upon the world, through the v/anton 
cruelty of the British corimianders, without a thrill 
of horror and a desire of retaliation ? 

Perhaps the most painful duty which the Amer- 
icans w^ere condemned to during the interval of 
the battle of Bunker Hill and the succeeding March, 
when the British evacuated Boston, was the throw- 
ing up entrenchments at Roxbury, continually ex- 
posed to the fire of the enemy, often a house burnt 
by their shells, and some dead to carry off* the 
field daily. This must have been a service irk- 
some in the extreme. 

Great sympathy for their sufiering countrymen, 

penned up in Boston, was continually felt ; but no 

means of relief occurred, except by starving out 

the garrison. Sometimes, to disburthen them- 

14 



162 ^IFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

selves of so many useless mouths, a pass was given 
by General Gage to families to quit the city; but 
when they did, they were not permitted to bring 
away any, even the least of their effects; even 
their persons were often rigorously searched. 
The writer of these sheets is acquainted with sev- 
eral aged females now living, who were among 
those permitted to escape ; and who succeeded in 
burying some of their valuables in the cellar, 
where they afterwards found them, although the 
house had been nearly deniolished, and one or 
two who brought off a number of gold pieces 
hemmed into their garments, but in some cases 
the search was so rigid that even this could not 
be done. Boston was however at length released 
from its thraldom, and the suffering, starving, and 
pillaged inhabitants once more at liberty. Gen. 
Washington marched into it witii the American 
forces the same day, carrying provisions and com- 
forts in abundance. Nothing could surpass the 
enthusiasm with which the inhabitants greeted 
them ; and "thus ended the contest at that place." 

Arrangements were now to be made for a re- 
moval to the interior, and in anticipation of this 
event a new army had been organized on the pre- 
ceding January. Colonel Daniel Hitchcock, Lt. 
Colonel Cornell, and Major Israel Angell, were the 
field officers in the regiment to which Captain 01- 
ny was attached. Captain Angell returned to his 
home sick, and resigned his commission. Cogges- 
hall Olney was promoted to Captain, and the sub- 
ject of this memoir, Stephen Olney, promoted to 
first Lieutenant. James Bridges, a very respect- 
able young man from Andover, Mass. was ap- 
pointed 2d Lieutenant. 

Paper money at this time was in good repute. 
It had not began to depreciate, as it afterwards 
did ; but it nov/ began to be more difficult about 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 163 

procuring" enlistments. The prospect of an end of 
the war now became distant, and, ahis ! the suc- 
cess was doubtful, and the patriotism of many had 
began to wax cold. A part of the soldiers, how- 
ever, belonging to the first corps, re-enlisted, so 
that, as Captain Olney says, '' they kept up the 
name of an army." 

Soon after the evacuation of Boston, they were 
ordered to New-York. At Providence, they halted, 
and Captain Olney obtained leave to visit and 
stay one night with his family. This he says 
''was the first favor of the kind since I engaged 
in the army, and previous to this, I had never 
been from home more than 24 hours at a time in 
my life. 

After a tedious march overland to New- York, 
the Rhode-Island regiment was stationed on Long 
Island, at Brooklyn Heights, half a mile from the 
city, just across the river. Here they were stead- 
ily employed in erecting fortifications on the isl- 
and, destined to be of no service. The island was 
often annoyed by small parties of British, scouting 
about and robbing the luckless inhabitants of 
whatever they could lay hands upon. Captain 
Olney was one of a party despatched one night to 
look after some of these fellows, and had the good 
fortune to apprehend some seven or eight of 
them. A part of them got intelligence and made 
off quick enough to save themselves. Captain 
Olney's prisoners proved to be persons of '' ma- 
ture age, good sense, and very consideraf^le infor- 
mation," and he expressed his amazement that 
" such persons should doubt the justice of the 
patriot cause, and still more astonishing that they 
avowed their belief that the States had not the 
means of supporting their independence." In af- 
ter life, he says it appeared no wonder they should 



1(54 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

have doubted the latter, so perfectly unprepared 
were the undisciplined forces of the States. 

A most interestino' event occurred while on this 
station — the reading of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. How many thousands listened to this 
soul-reviving appeal on that day ! In the shire 
tov/ns and cities it was read from the balconies of 
the State-houses. On Long-Island the army was 
called out and it was read to them on the Beach. 
It was in fact America's proudest day — the day to 
her '' for which all other days were made." How 
beat the loyal hearts ! How swelled the patriotic 
bosoms, when America, for the first time, avowed 
her determination before the whole world, " never 
to lay down her arms until these United States 
should be free, sovereign, and independent !" 
Hear, oh heaven ! and be astonished, oh earth ! 
A nation in its infancy dares to throw off the yoke 
of bonda^-e ! A nation that has onlv a lew raw 
and undisciplined soldiers, offers to cope with the 
most powerful kingdom in Europe — with a war- 
like and a war trained people — a people of old, 
mighty in arms, great in arts, and seeking to ex- 
tend her dominion from sea to sea and from shore 
to shore ! America, with a line of seacoast alto- 
gether undefended, against a mighty naval arma- 
ment, and a huge and impenetrable forest in her 
rear filled with avaricious and blood-thirsty sava- 
ges, whom the least bribe would at once turn up- 
on her with the merciless scalping knife and the 
exterminating tomahawk; without the alliance or 
countenance of any other nation, the solemn ap- 
peal was made, relying wholly on the justice and 
righteousness of her cause. What shout is that, 
that seems to rend the sky P that comes booming 
over the waters, swelling on the waves, and sweep- 
ing over the shores of Manhattan, until all the lit- 
tle islands around seem to catch the glad tidings, 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 165 

nnd echo back the joyful notes? What motley as- 
semblage is that collected on the beach, who throw 
their hats high in air, and brandish their gleaming 
blades? It is liberty's last ho}3e. It is the little 
band of heroes, who have commenced the regen- 
eration of a world. The first who have dared to 
assert the dignity of man; who have scorned the 
worship of the golden calf; and have determined 
to call no man master on earth; none lord but the 
Lord Jehovah. The shout that they send up this 
day, shall be heard through all the earth; the dis- 
tant hills shall prolong the echo on every side ; the 
waves of the ocean shall bear it to every land; and 
nations yet unborn, shall arise and call them 
blessed ; the captive in his dungeon shall think 
on them and all the oppressed of the earth shall 
*'pray, looking towards this place." 



CHAPTER III. 



The tide of joy, like all other tides, has an ebb. 
So elated were the little band on Long-Island, that 
they lay down with light hearts that night, and 
Captain Olney records that he dreamed, after com- 
ing off guard, that night, and falling asleep in his 
marquee, that a British vessel came into the har- 
bor of New- York, and struck her sails in honor of 
General Washington. He awoke, he says, and 
"considered it was but a drcan), but beheld in 
about two hours a British frigate, the first that had 
ever made the attempt, set sail, and ran by New- 



15f, LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

York, up to Tarytown Cove, notwithstanding tlie 
lire from all our batteries, and received but little 
damage," to the great mortification of the compa- 
ny who found themselves much deceived about the 
strength of their batteries. But this was nothing 
lo what followed. 

Never perhaps during the whole war of the 
revolution, was there an American force on any 
station, that ought to have watched with greater 
vigilance the movements of the enemy than that 
now encamped on LongJsland; unfortunately Gen- 
eral Greene, who had been put in command there 
was taken sick, and had to return home, so that 
the command devolved upon General Sullivan, or 
rather he was succeeded by him. General Sulli- 
van w^as a man of undoubted honor and trust, and 
his character w^as beyond the reach of suspicion, 
but it must be evident to every one who reads that 
there was a terrible mismanagement somewhere. 
An army said to be 23,000 strong, w^as lying just 
without Sandy Hook, and waiting onlj^ for an un- 
guarded moment to land their forces. The frigate 
that Captain Olney mentions, which run by the 
guns of so many forts, ought to have been a suffic- 
ient warning, if they had no other. A small de- 
tachment was stationed on Governor's Island, and 
another at Paulus Hook, in front of New-York, 
and upon the right bank of the Hudson. The 
American troops (the main body of the army) were 
in the city commanded by General Washington in 
person. General Putnam was on Long-Island, his 
head quarters on Brooklyn Heights, and Brigadier 
General Sterling, Lord Sterling as he was general- 
ly called, and many other officers of inferior rank, 
who afterwards distinguished themselves highly 
in the war for independence, were there. 

Whether the British thought to divert attention 
from their movements, by keeping up the show of 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 1C7 

negotiaiion, is uncertain, but it is certain it had 
sorneeflectin lulling attention. It was at this time 
that a letter from Lord Howe to George Washington^ 
Esq.^ caused so much indignation in the American 
camp. General Washington himself returned it 
with scorn, and refused to receive any letter in 
which his rank was not specified, very properly 
observing, " that in his private capacity, he could 
not treat with them." To this point, then, their 
high mightinesses were obliged to come, or drop 
the negotiation at once ; accordingly, Adjutant- 
Gen. Patterson, was sent in due form with another 
letter. Washington observed in the first place, he 
was not authorized to negotiate with the British 
in any way ; and secondly, he could not see that 
the commisioners were clothed with any authority 
except to grant pardons^ and " the United States 
having committed no offence, required no pardon 
at their hands; that she had only been defending 
her unquestionable rights," an answearthat ought 
to be recorded in letters of gold, for the benefit of 
every people in succeeding ages, struggling for lib- 
erty. Patterson, after expressing much regret, 
withdrew. Here then was an end to even the show 
of negotiatmi., and all eyes ought to have been di- 
rected to their movements. But it is useless to 
look back or mourn over the 3000 Americans who 
fell or were taken prisoners, in that disasterous 
night and day, when the British surprised the 
forces at Brooklyn. It is useless, as it was then, 
to stop to mourn over the flower of Maryland, the 
entire regiment of whom consisting of brave and 
educated young men, of some of the most patriot- 
ic and best families in the province, which were 
totally cut to pieces /rom the mistakes of a night. 

In silence and security the British made their 
dispositions of attack, and soon after dark, suc- 
ceeded in effecting a landing between the villages 



]68 L'J'^E OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

of Gravesend and New Utrecht, unseen and unop- 
posed. This place is directly on the west coast 
of Long" Island, and opposite Staten Island, and 
near the narrows, and was only three miles from 
the American encampment. General Sullivan had 
been in New-York on the preceding day, but had 
returned on that evening*. Captain Olney states, 
bringing" over 3000 men; and this 3000 by his ac- 
count took their station somewhat in advance of 
the fort. 

The two armies were separated by a chain of 
hills, then covered with wood, called the Heights 
of Giian, and which running from east and west, 
divide the island into two parts. There were 
three grand passes through these hills, one of 
which, near the narrows, and passing by the vii- 
las^e of Flatbush, seemed to have been the most 
dangerous, and in the event the most fatal to the 
Americans. Upon the summit of these hills there 
is a road leading the whole length of the range, 
from Bedford to Jamaica. All along upon this 
road posts had been stationed, and within such a 
distance from each other, that the most prompt 
intelligence could be conveyed of what was pass- 
ing on these routes. 

Stephen Olney, who was sent on with a detach- 
ment in advance, lay all night within a mile of 
this force of 23,000 men, and knew not that they 
were in the neighborhood. 

Two hours before day. Gen. Clinton commenced 
his attack ; he led the vanguard of the enemy, 
which consisted of light infantry; Lord Percy the 
centre, consisting of grenadiers, the artillery, and 
cavalry; and Cornwallis, the rearguard, regiments 
of infantry and heavy artillery. Colonel Miles who 
commanded the foremost post, did not perceive 
or know of their approach until they were within 
half a mile; and they were warned by one of the 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. IfJQ 

patriots being* seized and made prisoner by the 
advance guard under General Clinton; in fact the 
three passes were at once in their power. Gen- 
eral Clinton learning- from his prisoner that the 
road of Jamaica was not guarded, occupied it 
without loss of time, and on his left bore towards 
Bedford, and seized an important defile which the 
Americans had incautiously left unguarded. His- 
tory says, " from this moment the success of 
the day was decided in Aivor of the English." In 
short, by marching and countermarching, the 
Americans were at length almost completely sur- 
rounded; prodigies of valor were enacted by the 
enraged and betrayed patriots of America; many 
were wounded on the enemy's side, and about 400 
killed. General Washington himself came over 
from New- York in the height of the engagement, 
and seeing some of his best troops slaughtered or 
taken, is said to have wrung his hands, and ut- 
tered an expression of ang-uish, never heard from 
him before. The sun of the 27th of August rose 
with that red and angry glare, which is the sure 
precusorof a violent storm, which quickly followed 
the battle; but to the superstitious, a dismal fore- 
boding of the events of the day. Alas! it rose and 
set in blood. 

In another part of this immense field of battle, 
the militia of New-York and Pennsylvania was 
making a brave stand against the forces under 
Lord Percy, and were about giving way at length, 
when General Parsons arrived to their relief, and 
renevfed the combat, maintaining his position 
against fearful odds, until General Sterling came 
to his relief with 1500 men ; the action in that 
quarter became extremely warm, and neither 
would give way. While the Hessians on their 
post were fighting the main body in the centre, 
15 



170 Lli^E OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

commanded by General Sullivan, the Americans 
defended tliemselves with the greatest gallantry, 
not knowing that all their efforts must prove una- 
vailing, until the approach of the English light 
infantry assured them of it. They then endeav- 
ored to effect a retreat to the camp of Putnam; 
but attacked front and rear, it was no easy task; 
several regiments at length animated by heroic 
valor, cut their way through the midst of the Brit- 
ish army and gained the camp in safety; others 
threw themselves into the wood, and escaped 
that way. 

And where was the hero of our story, all this 
time ? Why, he was with the regiment that 
was ordered on picquet guard, and lay that night 
preceding the battle, on their arms, in a wood 
within one mile of the enemy. " The ground 
being covered with wood, v/e were not exactly 
apprized of our situation," says he. Between 
him and the forts, on the right and left, the ground 
was occupied by Lord Sterling. It was not until 
day light that this division was attacked, and the 
first they knew, the firing commenced simultane- 
ously in their front and rear. The firing at first, 
was from left to right. '' We perceived," he says, 
"we were surrounded, but as yet saw no enemy; 
Lieutenant Colonel Cornell (I believe Colonel 
Hitchcock was not present) ordered Capt. Tew's 
platoon, to which I belonged, to move in front, to 
protect our sentries, and marched the regiment 
towards our forts where the firing continued. 
When they came in sight of the enemy, they were 
necessiated to fight or run their way through." 
The latter it seems was decided on, and these 
brave fellows, with some killed and others wound- 
ed, gallantly forced their way through and gained 
the fort of Gen. Putnam. '' Many who hid in the 
woods came into camp after night," but to return 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 171 

to Capt. Tew's platoon : '■'- he marched a little dis- 
tance in front, but as the firing continued in our 
rear, he thought proper to detach nie, with about 
20 men, in front, to protect the sentries, and he 
inarched after, and shared the fate of his regi- 
ment, the fate of those who fell on the sword of 
the enemy. I marched forward, and found the 
enemy firing their field pieces, and some small 
arms, into the woods, where our sentries were 
placed, but the balls seemed to make the most 
havoc in the tops of the trees. I placed my men 
behind the trees, to be in readiness, if the enemy 
advanced, believing Ave were too far off for small 
arms, but my men thought they could kill, and 
kept up a deliberate fire. 

We had been thus situated about half an hour, 
when the firing ceased in the rear, and I discov- 
ered a party of the enemy coming towards us in 
thi;' direction; I formed my men, and marched off 
in v. ly quick time towards our home, (fort,) be- 
lieving the enemy were between us and the forts. 
I cautioned my men not to hurry, as the greatest 
exertion would be necessary at the end of the race; 
in a^out two miles, we came out of the woods in- 
to a field beside the road which led by a school 
house, by which we must pass to get over the 
mill-dam to our fort ; at this place Lieutenant 
Thomas Hughes joined me with a small party; on 
getting over the fence into the road, 1 saw the en- 
emy as near the school house as we were, drew 
up in line ever so long, deliberately viewing our 
works; I told my Sergeant Pollin to fix his bayo- 
net, as we must go through here, or die. At this 
instant, the enemy saw us, and ran ahead, and 
fired, and more ran before them and fired to pre- 
vent our passage. Nevertheless, I made out to 
get nearly all my men past the school house, and 
part of Hughes's; after passing the enemy, about 



172 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

one hundred yards, they had huddled together in 
the road. I ordered my men to face about, and 
give them one well-directed fire, which I saw from 
the staggering, had taken good effect." They 
then continued this running fight toFlatbush, and 
finally got into the Ibrt in safety. I remark," 
Captain Olney continues, " about 2400 were taken 
prisoners, and 500 killed and wounded," making 
it 100 less than the ofiicial account of the battle 
states. 

'-'•At the time, I did not, he says, pretend to 
know or examine the generalship of posting Sul- 
livan's and Sterling's forces, as they were, leav- 
ing the forts but poorly manned with sick and in- 
valids. It must be on the supposition that the 
enemy would come on the direct road, and if our 
troops were overpowered, they might retreat to 
and defend the fort. But the enemy took a cir- 
cuitous route, and where it was said Colonel 

(Hitchcock probably,) had neglected to guard, 
and arrived in our rear without notice. Had it 
been left to the British Generals to make a dispo- 
sition of our troops, it is a chance if they would 
have made it more advantageous to themselves, 
and but from their tardiness they might have tak- 
en our main fort. All that seemed to prevent it 
was a scarecrow row of palisades from the fort to 
low water in the cove, which Major Box had or- 
dered set up that morning. After we got into our 
fort, hungry, tired and sleepy, to augment our dis- 
tress, there came on a dreadful heavy storm, v/ith 
thunder and lightning, and the rain lell in such 
torrents that the water was soon ancle deep in the 
fort. Yet with all these inconveniences, and a 
powerful enemy just without musket shot, our 
men could not be kept awake. They would sit 
down and fall asleep, although Lieut. Cornell, a 
faithful and vigilant officer, whom they used to 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 173 

nickname " Old Snarl," was threatening to make 
daylight shine through them all the lime." 

Thus ended the melancholy tragedy of the bat- 
tle of Long-Island; through all its beautifull vallies 
from Bedford to Jamaica, the turf was strewed with 
the dead and the dying : imagination paints the 
scene, redolent of horrors. The dying warrior alone 
and unattended, sighing for some friendly hand to 
close his eyes, or place the cup of water to his 
parched lips, while his life is slowly ebbing from 
the ghastly wound. The frantic maiden, search- 
ing through the cold and drenching shower for 
the body of a husband or a father, unconscious of 
the thunder's roll, or lightning's flash, the wail of 
the dying mingled with the hoarse voice of the 
storm, or the roar of the ocean lashed into fury by 
the tempest. Alas, how many who hailed with 
enthusiasm the opportunity of distinguishing them- 
selves in the cause of their country at the rising 
of that day's sun, lived not to see its setting; low 
in the dust, the lofty plume of the warrior is trod- 
den, dimmed is the eagle eye, and pale the once 
glowing cheek, powerless the arm, that perchance 
mowed down the ranks of the enemies of his coun- 
try, at the battle of Bunker Hill, or on the shores 
of Virginia. How are the mighty fallen. But 
they fell in the sacred cause of freedom. They 
were martyrs, who came up to the help of the 
Lord against the mighty. Their blood has conse- 
crated the cause, and the soil. In after ages the 
voyager as he passes the Narrows, shall point to 
the place where the Lord commanded a sacrifice 
on the altar of Liberty. Henceforth shall this be 
a chosen spot ; the dews of heaven shall fall gen- 
tly on the sod, and the sweetest lloweiB of the for- 
est shall blossom on the turf that covers the 
'* ' Flower of Maryland, ' ' 
\5* 



174 LIFE OF STEniEN OLNEY. 



CHAPTER IV. 

History says that the " rain continued to fall 
in torrents for two days and two nights without 
intermission, by which the arms and ammunition 
of the soldiers was materially damaged," but prov- 
identially by this means the British ships could not 
come up to the assistance of their army, and the 
Americans had time to commence their retreat from 
the Island. A council of war being called, they 
decided it was best to evacuate their position 
without delay, as the Btitish, once masters of the 
east river, they would be completely hemmed in. 
The dispositions therefore for removal having 
been made in silence, as far as practicable, they 
commenced their march at 8 o'clock in the evening. 
The greatest caution had to be used for too surely 
they knew, that notwithstanding their own mis- 
takes in the afiair of the battle, treachery was at 
the bottom of it; that there w^ere many loyalists on 
the Island, how many they did not know, who had 
probably acted as spies and informers, and even 
guides on that occasion. 

In managing the retreat. Colonel Glover com- 
manded the vessels and fleet and transport boats. 
General M'Dougal was charged with the embark- 
ation, and Colonel Mifflin was to cover the rear 
guard. The current was exceedingly rough, and 
the wind contrary, and indeed in a direction (north 
east) calculated to blow them right into the hands 
of their eneypies, but providentially, just as they 
embarked, the wind changed to north west, and 
they got safely off, under the protection of a thick 
fog, which covered Long-Island, and singularly 



LiFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 17S 

enough reached not to New-York. Washington, 
notwithstanding the entreaties of his officers, re- 
mained last upon the shore ; he would not embark 
until he saw the last man on board. They amount- 
ed in all to 9000. 

It was not until the sun was high in the heav- 
ens, on the next morning, that the British per- 
ceived their prey had escaped, and with all their 
stores, munitions of war, &c., were safe from pur- 
suit; a few boats of the rear guard were alone to 
be seen, retreating from the Island, where they 
had returned to take away some articles which 
had been left the night before : they Avere out of 
their reach. Never was a retreat better timed or 
conducted with more ability and prudence. 

" We had to take our baggage, camp equipage, 
&c. on our shoulders, says Captain Olney, and car- 
ry them to the boats," and tedious indeed was 
the operation, through mud and mire, and not a 
ray of light visible, for this indulgence would 
at once have betrayed them, and through a fog so 
intense, you might almost grasp it. The Captain 
and his company were soon however in more com- 
fortable quarters, and where they could venture 
to breathe freely, though not eating the bread of 
idleness : a great operation was yet to be perform- 
ed ; that was to remove the forces on Govern- 
or's Island, and get them to the same place of 
safety. Two regiments occupied that Island, and 
with abundance of munitions of war, and a nu- 
merous artillery. The Americans had fortified it 
to defend the east river, but it could not be expect- 
ed to be of any avail, after the loss of Long-Island; 
the object was effected, and the whole safely re- 
moved to New- York. 

Dreadful for the time, was the effect of this bat- 
tle to the patriot cause ; they had hitherto labored 
imder a great mistake, in supposing that personal 



176 LTFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

valor alone would supply the want of discipline. 
Upon this they wholly relied, and now by a very 
natural reaction, fell into the other extreme, and 
supposed that courage would do nothing ; besides 
they began to be apprehensive of treachery, and 
dreaded an ambuscade at every step. The mil- 
itia, armed suddenly in emergency, became every 
day more intractable, and deserted by hundreds ; 
their example became every day more fatal to the 
regular troops, who at the most were only enlisted 
for one year, and who now took the liberty to sup- 
pose they might return to their homes just when 
they pleased. 

But there is no trial without a salutary use, if 
rightly improved. Hitherto the Congress had re- 
sisted all intreaties for a regular army, so great 
was the jealousy of the nation of a standing army^ 
but now the remonstrances of Washington were 
seconded by all the military officers of distinction, 
and they at length yielded, and decreed that a 
regular army should be immediately raised, to 
consist of eight battalions, in which the soldiers 
should be enlisted to serve through the war, with 
a promise of a grant of land of one hundred acres 
at the end of it, and a bounty of twenty dollars at 
enlisting. They were afterwards obliged to mod- 
ify it and allow enlistments for three years, but 
no land, if they served less than through the war. 
With much exertion Washington made out to keep 
his little army together, until proper measures 
could be taken to organize a new one. Advice, 
persuasion, and exhortation were necessarily used^ 
and, seconded by the other officers, the greater 
part yielded to his authority and consented to re- 
main. Personal affection for that great command- 
er (for ever blessed be his memory) was thought 
to have had great influence. 

It was at this time that General Howe, pre- 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 177 

suniing" upon the events of the late battle, sent to 
Congress a request to treat with them, in order to 
put an end to the war, as he said. The request 
was sent by General Sullivan, and Congress de- 
puted three of their body to hear what Howe had 
to say, and to examine his powers. Nothing could 
have proved his hollow and hypocritical intentions 
more than the language made use of at this inter- 
view did. They demanded "first that the colonies 
should return to their allegiance," with the assur- 
ance — assurance forsooth, " that it was the earnest 
desire of the King to make his government easy 
and agreeable to them, and that the laws of Par- 
liament, which were so obnoxious to them, should 
undergo a revised^ and the instructions to Govern- 
ors should be reconsidered" — reconsidered probably, 
as the Constitution of Lower Canada has been. 
If nothing had ev^r chanced to inform us of what 
our favor would have been, had we trusted to 
these assurances^ the groaning prisons of Toronto 
and Montreal could answer us now. Whether the 
gallows formed a part of the camp equipage of the 
British commanders of those days, as it is said to 
-of some at the north now, as not known, but we 
have no reason to suppose that we should have 
fared any better than those unfortunate men who 
have recently laid down their arms in Canada, up- 
on the assurances of British clemency. 

The three Commissioners, Franklin, Rutledge, 
and Adams, saw through their hollow assurances, 
and made-the conference short. During this time 
however a fortnight of rest had been allowed the 
troops at New-York, except in the little skirmishes 
that V70uld naturally take place from the near 
con tiguity of the enemy. By degrees they got pos- 
session of most of the little islands in the neigh- 
borhood, and General Washington thought it most 
prudent to evacuate New-York. In this he was 



178 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

opposed in a council of war by the other officers, 
who thought that "if they could hold out a show 
of resistance there it would divert the attention of 
the enemy from any other point, as the season 
was so far advanced it might prevent their ob- 
taining a foothold until winter should set in, which 
would oblige them to withdraw for one season at 
least. Circumstances afterwards demonstrated 
that the plan of Washington was best. At length, 
however, seeing the enemy reinforced from so 
many quarters, they unanimously decided it was 
best. The sick, the baggage, and munitions of 
war were safely carried over to Jersey, far up the 
river, and the soldiers marched out of the city, 
when, behold, information came that the British 
had landed on the island at Kip's Bay, only three 
miles from the city. This caused them to decamp 
with so much haste as to leave part of their hea- 
vy artillery in the hands of the enemy. At King's 
bridge they had a strong force, and hither they 
retreated. From their near neighborhood to the 
enemy, frequent skirmishes ensued, in which the 
American army became accustomed to face the 
foe. At Harlem, they had quite a hot engage- 
ment, in which Lieut. Stephen Olney fought and 
behaved with much gallantry. The particulars of 
this engagement have been given in history, ex- 
cept, that the Americans contrived an ambuscade, 
into Avhich many British and Hessians fell, and 
numbers of them were killed or taken prisoners. 

It was while they were at Harlem, and onl}^ a 
few days after the capture of New-York, that the 
great fire occurred at that city. One fourth of 
New-York was consumed. The British accused 
the Americans of setting fire to the city them- 
selves, in order to deprive them of its spoils. It 
was in vain that they protested their entire inno- 
cence. Their protestations were not regarded, 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 179 

and humanity weeps over the recital, they seized 
upon many whom they pretended to beHeve were 
instrumental in it, and plunged them headlong" in- 
to the flames ! Yes, in the very faces of their 
imprisoned families, in view of the destruction of 
ail their property ! What must have been the 
feelings of those bereaved and houseless beings to 
see their last props torn away ; and still more 
horrible, hurried by a death of excruciating tor- 
ture, without a moment for preparation, into the 
presence of their God. Oh, England ! thy day of 
retribution has not yet come. That thou art a 
christian nation will only aggravate thy doom. In 
the Judgment, Turks and infidels shall stand guilt- 
less at thy side, and the time may come when it 
shall be said, " Blessed is he that taketh thy chil- 
dren, and dasheth them against the stones." 

Captain Olney saw not this, he was at this time 
near King's bridge, skirmishing with the outposts 
of the enemy, and lending liis aid to help keep the 
men together, and to inspire them with courage. 
He says that " when they retreated from New- 
York city, they had a running fight, very similar 
to that at Flatbush." The regiment to which he 
belonged, after some days was obliged to go over 
to fort Lee, on the Jersey side; and here, he re- 
lates a conversation between two Captains of his 
regiment which certainly was very singular ; to 
say nothing more of it in presence of witnesses, 
too. They held an argument it seems, upon the 
probability of the country's success in gaining their 
independence, and very gravely decided that it 
was impossible, and that they never could effect it. 
Captain Olney says it was true they were older 
and had more experience than himself, but he did 
not hesitate to avow a contrary opinion; he speaks 
of a Mr. Bridges, who likewise spoke on the occa- 



180 i^lFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

sion, and boldly asserted his full belief in the fu- 
ture independence of his country. 

Thestay of Captain OIney was short at fort Lee; 
he with the regiment, was ordered to recross it^ 
and encamp at Harlem Heights, near Hellgate. 
The enemy erected a battery on the opposite side 
of the east river, and a regular connonade was^ 
kept up every day. It was now judged best to 
send the sick off to a place of safety; and Captain 
OIney was despatched to conduct them to Tappan, 
which was safely performed. During his absence 
he says their regiment had another skirmish with 
the enemy, but being outflanked, retreated with- 
out much loss ; and as the enemy advanced on 
Long Island side, the American army made retro- 
grade movements on the north river side, to keep 
from being outflanked. The object of the British 
now, was to surround the American army, and 
being at this time reinforced by an Irish regiment, 
after various manoeuvres they determined to effect 
an encampment on White Plains, on the other 
side of Kingsb ridge. 

Washington penetrated the designs of the ene- 
my, and resolved to frustrate them by extending 
his own army to that place; and finally encamped 
the main body at White Plains; separated from the 
English only by a narrow river (Brunx). Here 
for some days, they had frequent skirmishes, until 
the whole British army had concentrated them- 
selves on the opposite bank of the river; a cannon- 
ade commenced, but with little effect. The right 
wing of the army was severely attacked by the 
British, and defended with much bravery, partic- 
ularly, by a regiment from Maryland, and one from 
New-York, who came out of the lines after the ene- 
my had crossed over and fought them at the foot 
of the mountain until overpowered by numbers i 
they were forced to retire behind the redoubts^ 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 181 

Night coming' on, the main body under Washing- 
ton was not attacked; he took advantage of the 
night to strenglien his position, and it was a night 
of liard work; but so formidable did they appear 
in the morning, that General Howe decided on not 
attacking them until he could get some battalions 
from New-York, under the conunand of Lord Per- 
cy. These reinforcements did not arrive until 
evening, and he had to wait another day for the 
assault. 

It seemed the fate of Captain Olney, to be 
wherever danger was and much work to do, and 
he was not to repose in idleness ; a more busy or 
anxious time perhaps did not occur during the 
campaign. Captain Olney thought there was 
about twenty two thousand on each side, before 
Percy's force joined the enemy; but history records 
that the forces ol'the enemy were much superior, 
and regular troops; while the force of the Ameri- 
cans were mostly raw militia. Another night of 
excessive rain which continued all through the 
next day, obliged both sides to remain quiet. It 
was now the 30th of October, and the morning of 
the 1st of November was decided by the British, 
for a general engagement. With such an im- 
mense reinforcement as they had now received, 
it was well understood the Americans would be 
unable to resist. 

Washington, who saw and understood all their 
movements, decided with his usual prudence, and 
resolved to break up his camp. Accordingly, after 
setting fire to the houses of White Plains and the 
neighborhood, and to their forage, he effected the 
removal of his whole army in the nic'ht, to a very 
mountainous place in the vicinity of North Castle, 
and, behold, in the morning they were gone. The 
English took possession of their camp, very wise- 
16 



182 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

ly deciding rot to follow the American army any 
further, but to confine their attempts to reduce 
the remaining forts and fortresses near New- York. 

Contrary to the advice of Washington, the 
Americans had decided on returning to forts Wash- 
ington and Lee. Fort AVashington, it will be re- 
collected, had to surrender, after a most gallant 
defence, in which the English had about eight 
hnndred killed, principally of their German sol- 
diers. This fort, under the command of Colonel 
Magaw, a very brave officer, had to surrender 
with about 2600 men. They capitulated, howev- 
er, on honorable terms, and that only after having 
expended all their ammunition. 

Captain OIney estimates the prisoners at 2300, 
and was excessively angry at the surrender. He 
says, '' if the fort was well provided and capable 
of defence. Colonel Magaw must have acted the 
part of a coward or a traitor; if on the contrary 
it was not capable of defence, it was bad general- 
ship to attempt it ; and, moreover, that the troops 
might have removed at short notice to fort Lee, 
on the Jersey shore." As to Colonel Magaw, it is 
evident he was no coward or traitor, but as re- 
spects his prudence in attempting to defend the 
fort with such a scant supply of ammunition, or 
even to defend it at all, it may well be questioned. 
Fort Lee was then invested, and wisely aban- 
doned by the Americans, but unfortunately in such 
haste as to leave much of their military stores and 
baggage in the power of the eneuiy ; their tents 
too, the loss of which they most severely felt at 
this season, were mostly left. 

The Americans now had to retire on the other 
side of the Hackensac river, while the British could 
penetrate into the very heart of New-Jersey. Un- 
der all these discouragements, most of the Aineri- 
cans sunk the militia, disbanded and precipitately 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 183 

retired to their habitations, and history says that 
even the regular troops deserted in parties. The 
army of Washing-ton at this time scarcely amount- 
ed to 3000, and without instruments to intrench 
themselves, without tents to shelter them, and 
surrounded by a population of doubtful senti- 
ments, it is no wonder that a feeling" of discour- 
agement should prevail . It is due to the character 
of Captain Stephen Olney to say that he was not 
one who ever despaired or murmured in the worst 
of times. Even here, exposed to much suffering 
as they were, he neither repined or desponded, 
but continually cheered his forlorn coujpanions, 
and bade them hope for better times ; while he 
sat an example worthy of all imitation, when 
turning his back upon the more civilized country 
he had left, and marching, he scarce knew whith- 
er. The feelings of the Commander-in-Chief, he 
reflected, must have been trying in the extreme, 
and needed no additional infliction. He had de- 
fended the ground inch by inch, and had the mor- 
tification after all, to see the fairest and best por- 
tion of the country fall into the hands of an over- 
bearing and sanguinary enemy. Behind, as they 
approached the Hackensack, rolled the beautiful 
Hudson; its fine forts, late in their possession, now 
displaying the flag of the victors ; the island of 
Manhattan on every height gleaming with British 
arms. While below, the city, with its tall spires, 
its fine buildings and ample resources, was now 
a prey to the enemy. True, a fourth part of that 
beautiful city was now but a blackened pile of ru- 
ins ; the conflagration had been descried by the 
American army, but the horrible detail had not 
yet reached them ; still, it must have been with 
feelings of melancholy interest, with a bosom 
swelling with unutterable emotion, that the gal- 
lant commander of the American army turned his 



184 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

back upon the city ; yesterday he was the leader 
of at the least 22,000 men ; and before the fatal 
battle of Brooklyn, of many thousand more ; to- 
day, where are they ? Death, imprisonment and 
desertion ! The soldiers still remaining with him, 
completed their term this year ; and to add to the 
difficulties, an insurrection appeared ready to ex- 
plode in this very province of New-Jersey, where 
the friends of the British taking- courage from the 
calamities of the Americans, were ready for a mus- 
ter. The Commander-in-Chief was obliged to 
send on a part of his little army, however illy they 
could be spared, to check it. 

It was at this time that the two Howes issued 
their famous proclamation, offering free pardon 
to all who came within sixty days to tender their 
submission ; and to the disgrace of the country 
and of human nature, great numbers flocked to 
confess their political sins to the representative of 
Majesty, and to obtain pardon. It was observed, 
that these consisted of the very rich and the ery 
poor, while the middling class held their constan- 
cy. Washington, though sorely grieved at this 
declension, it is said, "never lost the serenity of 
his countenance." Captain Olney remarks, '' that 
through this march of the Jerseys, "the enemy 
continued to harass their rear, and were within 
less than an hour's march of them, all the time." 
General Lee, who had been sent to the upper wa- 
ters of the Hudson, in order to be ready to succor 
the corps of Canada, which opposed Gen. Carlton 
on the lakes, was now sent for in haste, to go to 
the rescue of Pennsylvania ; the critical situation 
of Philadelphia demanding, in Washington's opin- 
ion, the first consideration. He demanded rein- 
forcements from Pennsylvania immediately, and 
also called on the Governor of New-Jersey for the 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 185 

militia of that Province ; both of these authorities 
remained in statu quo. 

Gen. Lee was ordered to join the comm.ander- 
in-chief at Bristol, Pennsylvania, and the Rhode- 
Island regiment was to go on with him; Washing- 
ton apprehensive of being locked in between two 
rivers, west of the Passaic river, took up his quar- 
ters at Newark. The English pushed on after 
him ; he then crossed the Raritan, and took post 
at New-Brunswick. At this place, the Maryland 
and New-Jersey militia declared their term of ser- 
vice had expired, and retired to their homes. — 
Some corps of the Pennsylvania militia followed 
their example. It was soon after this, that the 
army had a miraculous escape in the famous re- 
treat to Trenton, and on the 8th of December, 
when they so successfully defeated the chase of 
the enemy by crossing the Deiav^^are, having first 
cut the bridges, broken the roads, and removed 
all the ferry boats ; they had no sooner gained the 
opposite side than the British appeared in sight on 
the other side. But to return to Captain Olney, 
if any one had a yearning desire to return home, 
he had ; his first child was born on the 19th of the 
preceding October, and he had never seen the 
face of kindred but once since he first enlisted in 
the war ; yet he resolved to keep at his post. He 
realized all the danger that menaced the country 
at that time, yet unshrinkingly determined to share 
peril and fatigue ; and here he relates the circum- 
stance of the capture of their commander, General 
Lee, who when near Morristown took up his quar- 
ters for the night at a place called Bearskin Ridge, 
about three or four miles from the encampment, in 
a direction, where he says we might expect the 
enemy, who got intelligence of him, and with a 
party of light horse surprised and made him pris- 
16* 



186 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

oner. Wholly by his imprudenee, he adds, and 
with dejected spirits, we pursued our march next 
day, under the command of General Sullivan, who 
altered our route to the right, to avoid the enemy, 
and passed the Delaware at Eastown, 50 or 60 
miles above Bristol, making about three days' 
march more than by the direct road. In the mean 
time the commander-in-chief, through means of 
Generals Mifflin and Armstrong, had procured a 
reinforcement of the army from Pennsylvania, who 
finding their capital menaced, at length began to 
stir theniselves. General Gates was then ordered 
to bring promptly the best of the troops he had in 
Canada, to the rescue. He arrived the 20th of 
December, and doubtless infused new life into the 
troops; meanwhile, the corps to which Capt. Olney 
belonged were delayed, from different causes ; in 
the first place through the unaccountable supine- 
ness of General Lee, before the army had the good 
fortune to lose him to the British. They did not 
arrive until the 27th. 

A dispute immediately arose among the British 
respecting the treatment of Gen. Lee : the Amer- 
icans offered to ransom him with ten Hessian offi- 
cers, but the British positively refused to exchange 
him without one of equal rank, and even insisted 
upon considering him as a prisoner of State instead 
of war. The exasperated Americans immediate- 
ly determined on reprisals, and Congress ordered 
Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, and five Hessian 
officers to be imprisoned and treated as General 
Lee was ; this was done, and they were not liber- 
ated until Lee was. During this period, informa- 
tion reached the American camp of the situation 
of the American prisoners at New-York. " They 
were shut up in churches, and other places, ex- 
posed to the inclemency of the weather, not al- 
lowed sufficient nourishment, even of the mostsor- 



LIFE OF STErHEN OLNEY. 187 

did and repulsive kind, exposed to the insults of 
the soldiers, a shockinsr want of cleanliness : noth- 
ing alleviated their sufferings, a confined and im- 
pure air engendered mortal diseases, and more 
than 1500 of those brave men perished in a few- 
weeks ; all the time the officers of the king per- 
suading them to enlist in the royal cause, but they 
all refused preferring certain death to the desertion 
of their country ; the officers fared no better, des- 
titute even of decent clothing, they were escorted 
about street to be the sport of the royal mob, and 
even beaten for daring to solicit some relief for 
their suffering soldiers, who were perishing for 
food and in the infected dungeons." Howe 
denied this to General Washington, who offered 
to send an agent to provide for their wants, but 
this they would not permit, and this, all dreadful 
as it was, probably did more for the cause of inde- 
pendence than any thing else. What was only 
patriotism and love of country in the Americans 
before, was now downright hatred. It seems in- 
credible, but such was the fact, that afterwards 
when, by reason of the many prisoners in the hands 
of the Americans, they were glad to exchange, 
such had been their treatment, many died as soon 
as they attempted to remove them. The English 
insisted that their prisoners should be restored 
even for the dead ; that is, that a living body should 
be given them for every dead prisoner ! ! ! the 
Americans, horror struck as they were, refused 
with much spirit. 



188 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 



CHAPTER V. 

The corps to which Captain Olney belonged, in 
nnaking an exchange of commanders, had certainly 
become the gainers. Gen. Sullivan was prompt; he 
crossed the Delaware at Phillipsburgh ; and this 
reinforcement swelled the army to about seven 
thousand. It would have been much larger, but 
singularly enough, on the same day that Washing- 
ton had crossed the Delaware, the English became 
possessed of Rhode-Island ; consequently, the re- 
inforcements that General Lincoln had assembled 
to reinforce Washington, were detained for the 
protection of Massachusetts. Connecticut too, 
dared not send her forces as the enemy were con- 
stantly scouring the Sound, and they knew not 
where the next point of attack might be. It was 
at this time, too, that the merciless savages of the 
wilderness v/ere by bribes and promises, induced 
to take up arms against the Americans, and the 
ruin of the Cherokee nation was occasioned by 
this. The inhabitants of the States were living 
at peace with them, but were now obliged in Vir- 
ginia, in the Carolinas, and Georgia, to turn their 
arms against them ; and as far as possible, to make 
it a war of extermination. It would be well for 
those who are continually whining about the poor 
Indians, particularly the Cherokees, to look back 
and see what ruined them as a nation. 

The winter had set in, and the Delaware was 
fast closing over, and every thing wore a discour- 
aging appearance. True, some late additions had 
been made to the American army ; true, our min- 
isters were despatched to almost ever court in 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 189 

Europe, for aid — but, as yet, no tiding"s had ar- 
rived of their success. Any commander under the 
same discouragements, would have desponded. 
Washington, at this very period, contrived a plan 
to surprise a portion of the enemy's forces ; to act 
on the oflensive, while they were supposing that 
the Americans would not long be able to act on 
the defensive. With great sagacity he observed 
they had extended their line of fortifications too 
far, and he contrived a plan to surprise the corps 
nearest the river, and too reiDote for succor. Our 
limits will not permit us to give the whole inter- 
esting story, which will be useless, too, it being 
so fully treated of in the History of the Revolu- 
tion ; we shall, therefore, confine ourselves to gen- 
eral heads, giving such only, from history, as 
shall make the subject understood. 

"I have given," said Captain Olney to the au- 
thor of this work, some time before his death, 
" rather an unconnected narrative ; there are ma- 
ny things essential to be mentioned, which it will 
be your business to supply, should you become 
possessed of my manuscript. Part of it is from 
memory, and I believe you will find it accurate ; 
but there will be much to be added from history 
to make it understood." 

It was the fate of Captain Olney to be absent at 
the time of this brilliant aflfair, by being transferred 
from his commander. General Sullivan, whom 
General Washington took with him, as well as 
General Greene, to assist him in conducting the 
first corps, who passed the Delaware nine miles 
above Trenton, at M'Konkey's ferry. The second 
division under the command of General Irvine, 
was to cross at Trenton ferry, only a mile from 
the village, in order to seize a bridge over the riv- 
er of Assumpink, in order to intercept the enemy 
who would have to retreat that way after being 



190 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

dislodged by Washington, from Trenton; while 
the third division, commanded by General Cad- 
wallader, was to pass the river at Bristol and take 
post at Burlington. (This was the extreme point 
of their outposts, and within twenty miles of Phf- 
ladelphia ; so near that Congress had taken the 
alarm, and removed their sitting to Baltimore). 
The soldiers were exhorted to remember Brooklyn 
and New-York, and to wipe out the stains of their 
defeat in those places. They expected to have 
come upon the enemy before day ; but a light rain 
having frozen and made it very slippery, they did 
not arrive until 8 o'clock the next morning. Un- 
fortunately, the division under Irvine, as well as 
the third under Cadvvallader, never reached the 
scene of action; not even crossed the Delaware; as 
they said the ice had accumulated so as to make 
it impossible to take over their artillery, to act 
with effect. Had they all got over, the probability 
is, the w^hole line of fortifications along the river 
would have been swept ; as it was, the forces at 
Trenton were surrounded. The British General 
in command there, w^ent out to give battle ; but 
Rawle was killed the first fire ; and his soldiers fled, 
to the Princeton road ; they were immediately in- 
tercepted by the Americans, and surrounded, and 
had to surrender. 1000 prisoners were taken, 
only 40 or 50 had been killed. 

Washington, aware that the British could muster 
in a few hours an overwhelming force, and finding 
the two divisions were not likely to come to his 
support, very wisely re-embarked with his prison- 
ers, and conveyed them to Philadelphia, where 
they w^ere defiled through the streets of Philadel- 
phia, follow^ed by their arms and banners ; and 
even as prisoners, it is said the black whiskered 
and mustachoed fellows, in those days, excited 
terror. 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEV'. 191 

Capt. OIney in speaking of his disappointment 
on that occasion, gives the following narration: 
'* On the 25th of December at night, our army 
was in motion to attack the enemy at three posit- 
ions, one at Trenton under Washington, one un- 
der General Cadvvallader, to which our regiment 
belonged, at Burlington, and one under Irvine at 
Mount Holley ; while marching from our encamp- 
ment, a short distance, it began to snow ; we made 
several halts by the river, as if some one was 
looking for a place to embark, but the word was 
we could not get over our artillery on account of 
the ice, and our division returned to camp, as 
did the other. General Irvine's. I had no expe- 
rience of this sort, or any in navigation, but Col- 
Jeremiah Olney, of Providence, then a Captain, 
said, " 7ce ought to go without our artillery ; this 
seemed to me correct, and those versed in military 
affairs must suppose there would be little use for 
artillery when our plan was to take the enemy by 
surprise, and what ought to have stimulated us to 
greater exertions, the fate of the other division 
might depend on ours.'' This was Capt. Jeremiah 
Olney's opinion, but he was of too low a grade 
to have a voice in the councils of that night, and 
perhaps it was well for us, and certainly f~etter he 
adds (humorously) for the British, who after being 
apprised that General Washington had captured 
all their men, 900 in number, the remainder ran 
away safe to Brunswick." There are two things 
in the Captain's statement tliat may appear erro- 
neous, but they are correct ; one that 900 prison- 
ers were taken: there were only 900 Hessians taken 
on the ground, but upon searching the houses 100 
more were found, which made the thousand, that 
were carried to Philadelphia, also that all the men 
were taken as the Irishman said, and the rest ran 
away. Captain Olney is correct here also, it was 



192 LIJ^E OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

no Irishism, all the men in the place were taken, 
after the 40 or 50 killed ; but there was a foraging- 
party out that morning, of 500 troops, who discov- 
ered on their return, the presence of the Ameri- 
cans in time to make their escape ; the assistance 
of CadvA^allader's division, had he gone over, would 
have intercepted and secured them. As it was, 
the events of their discomforture were momentous. 
The Auiericans rushed to the standard of" freedom 
once more, their army was very sensibly augment- 
ed in a iew days. The enemy on the contrary, 
were proportionably alarmed ; the whole army 
put itself in motion ; Lord Cornwallis who was 
then on tlie point of embarking for England, from 
New-York, returned with the utmost expedition 
into New-Jersey. Colonel Donop retired precipi- 
tately to Princeton, by the way of Amboy, to unite 
with General Leslie, and even General Grant, 
who with the main body of the British army occu- 
pied New-Brunswick, retreated to Princeton to 
join the others. Washington upon finding: his army 
augment, thouglit himself in a situation to attempt 
an expedition on the frontiers of New-Jersey ; he 
had immediately marched and took possession of 
Trenton, and now concentrated his forces there. 

Captain OIney goes on to relate, ''After this 
success our army passed into the Jerseys. Our 
regiment was several days at Crosswix, where 
General Mifliin made a harangue to tlie three regi- 
ments of Rhode-fsland, which then composed near- 
ly one half of the present army of General Wash- 
ir»gton, to induce them to stay one n)onth longer 
than the time for which they were engaged. Our 
regiment, with one accord, agreed to stay to a 
man ; as did also the others, except a few who 
made their escape by the enemy at Trenton, the 
next d ly, and was not seen in the army after- 
wards." (Captain Olney forgot that they were 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 193 

offered, and accepted a bounty of ten dollars a 
head, as one of their inducements to remain.) 
''The first of January, 1777, our Rhode-Island 
reg-iments marched from Crosswix to Trenton, 
where we arrived about sunrise, having been all 
nig-ht travelling eleven miles, owing to the bad- 
ness of the road ; we took quarters in the houses 
and began to prepare for breakfast ; but before it 
was ready, the drum beat to arms, the enemy 
whom we supposed at Princeton, twelve miles off, 
or at Brunswick, twenty four miles off, were near 
at hand and double our number. Our troops pa- 
raded on the south side of a small river that passes 
through the town into the Delaware, (this must 
have been the Assumpinck) and soon marched with 
a view to take possession of an eminence the north 
side of the town, as I then supposed, to get into a 
better situation, so if we were obliged to retire to 
the north and hilly part of Jersey, we could get 
there wath better safety ; but the enemy got pos- 
session of these hills before we did, and com- 
menced a smart fire upon us. General Greene 
was at the head of our column, and gave the 
word, " retreat ;" the first platoon wheeled, some 
others turned about, as we had been taught on 
parade duty, so that we passed Trenton bridge in 
great disorder. Whenever the regiment and army 
formed in order, the men were at arm's lengtii 
apart, so as to make a numerous and formidable 
appearance, (none but a Yankee would have 
thought of that.) Thus we remained until dark, 
without firing much, and but little from the enemy. 
A few scattering balls were passing each way, 
most of the time. It appeared to me then, that 
our army was in the most desperate situation I 
had ever known it ; we had no boats to carry us 
across the Delaware, and if we had, so powerful 
17 



194 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

an enemy would certainly destroy the better half 
before we could embark. To cross the enemy's 
line of march, between this and Princeton, seemed 
impracticable ; and when we thought of reireating- 
into the south part of Jersey, where there was no 
support for an army, that was discouraging" ; not- 
withstanding all this, the men and officers seemed 
cheerful, and in great spirits ; I asked Lieutenant 
Bridges what he thought now, of our indepen- 
dence. He answered cheerfully, 'I don't know; 
the Lord must help us.'" 

We must stop one moment to admire the cheer- 
fulness and composure of the soldiers in the most 
trying and critical situation. CornwalHs, who had 
marched with his vanguard toward Trenton, had 
unexpectedly arrived at about 4 o'clock in the 
morning. His rear guard was posted at the vil- 
lage of Maidenhead, about half way between this 
and Trenton, (consequently about six miles off,) 
and other regiments were on tlieir march from 
New-Brunswick to reinforce his army. When the 
Americans retired behind the little river, (Assum- 
pinck,) that Captain Olney mentions, they took 
good care to secure all the passes. The bridge 
and all the fords were carefully guarded. The 
English attempted to force the passes several 
times, but without success, and the Americans 
stood firm in their entrenchments until dark, when 
the cannonading ceased, and Cornwallis rested 
until morning, knowing his reinforcements would 
then come on, and meaning to march them to the 
assault. The whole American army must have 
seen their danger, but they seemed to feel too that 
the mighty mind of their commander was equal to 
the event, and it proved so. 

Captain Ohiey says, ^' After dark, we were dis- 
missed a little while to get our breakfast, dinner, 
and supper. As the night advanced it became ex- 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 195 

tremely cold, and it seemed to me extravagant 
that our men should pull down such good cedar 
fences to augment our fires, and they were replen- 
ished by some stragglers, as we afterwards under- 
stood, who were ordered for that purpose." 

There seems to be some mystery here, who the 
stragglers were, whether deserters from the Brit- 
ish camp, or some of the inhabitants of the pro- 
vince who had volunteered in this benevolent of- 
fice, perhaps some of our readers may understand, 
-but we confess we do not. 

But we must leave these weary and heavy la- 
den soldiers, to their short repose, and venture into 
•the tent of the American commander. The ser- 
vant may sleep sometimes, but the master scarce 
ever can. Here, in deep conclave, sat the earthly 
guardians of the army of independence. On the 
4):>ehand was Gen. Greene, of Rhode-Island, with 
that singularly severe look which even in youth 
he bore, his closely compressed lips denoting the 
deep mental conflict he was engaged in ; and, as 
vhough in direct contrast, opposite was the gallant 
and elegant General Mercer, of Virginia, upon 
whose sunny brow no warning angel had written, 
''thou shall die to-morrow !" beside him sat the 
stately General Mifflin, the favorite of Pennsylva- 
nia, together with the prudent Cadwallader and 
Irvine. Sullivan, too, was there, and some others 
of inferior note ; but high above the rest tow^ered 
the majestic form of Washington, solemn but se- 
rene ; he was scarcely ever seen to smile and nev- 
er to laugh. He stood like some oak that defies 
the tempest, and unfolded the plan which the ex- 
igence of the occasion had suggested. It was, to 
the amazement of all, to abandon all at once the 
banks of the Delaware, and carry the war into the 
very heart of New-Jersey ; that was — and who 
but he could have conceived it, surrounded, be- 



190 LTFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

leagured, and beset, by an army more than treble 
his number, to exchang-e a defensive for an olfen- 
sive war. The boldness of the plan struck all 
present with admiration, and they had nothing* to 
offer in opposition, but the word " Philadelphia.'^ 

The commander in chief proceeded to develope 
his views and the probable course of the hostile 
army, who fearing- to be cut off from New- York, 
and likewise for their stores at New-Brunswick, 
would probably retire also froui the river, and thus 
Philadelphia be saved, and a g-reat part of New- 
Jersey preserved. '' But at the worst, should the 
enemy, abandoning all else, succeed in crossing 
the river and actually become masters of Phila- 
delphia, yet it would be better to lose Philadel- 
phia without the army than to lose them both." 
There was an unction in the speech of our great 
father which none could resist ; but added to this, 
the argument was unanswerable. Each assented 
with full approbation, and grateful, no doubt, as 
mankind always are, that there was one able to 
take the labor of thinking and the responsibility of 
acting, off their hands ; each hastily departed to 
call out their respective regiments. The fires v/ere 
renewed in the camp to deceive the enemy, pre- 
parations made, the baggage sent safely off, and 
the whole army, finding the enemy was perfectly 
quiet, set out on the road to Princeton, by Allen- 
town, the longest way, but in order to shun an en- 
counter with the reinforcements conungin on the 
other road. We will give Captain Olney's history 
of the march of the Rhode-Island regiment, in his 
own words. 

"The roads which the day before had been 
mud, snow, and water, were congealed now, and 
had become hard as a pavement and solid, and 
our army was ordered to parade in silence, and 
leave those comfortable fires. The orders for our 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 197 

march were given in so low a tone, that some of 
the Colonels were at a stand which way to move 
their regiments. After marching all night, at sun- 
rise we found ourselves in the vicinity of Prince- 
ton, and a detachment of the British with field- 
pieces drawn up in order of battle, to receive us." 
The Americans had taken especial care, not to 
be followed ; the patrols were left on their rounds, 
the fires kept up, &c., and no suspicion entered 
the British camp that they had departed. The 
detachment which they now met, was three regi- 
ments which had lodged at Trenton, on the pre- 
ceding night, and were now on their march for 
Maidenhead. The Americans suddenly appeared 
and charged them with great impetuosity. The 
English defended themselves so rigorously, that 
the militia faced about, and were retiring in dis- 
order. The brave General Mercer, of Virginia, 
placed himself in the forefront of the battle and 
attempted to rally them, but fell in the attempt, 
mortally wounded — and again the militia turned 
their backs. But instantly the tide of war rolled 
back — " Washington, to the rescue," was enough 
to animate all hearts ; followed by a select corps 
of the conquerors of Trenton, he rushed on with 
overwhelming force and restored the battle. The 
English regiments Vv^ere separated and in the great- 
est confusion. The English Colonel Mawhood, 
at^ter -sustaining the assault a few moments, cut his 
way through with the bayonet, and followed by 
as many of his forces as could follow^ him, escaped 
to Maidenhead ; the next m.ade several ineffectual 
attempts to follow them, but were driven back 
and fled to New-Brunswick. The third followed 
them, except between 300 and 400, which were 
taken prisoners; over 100 were left dead on the 
ground. The loss of the Americans in slain, was 
17* 



198 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

nearly equal, and among" the number was the gal- 
lant Mercer, the compatriot in arms, the tried 
friend, the endeared companion of Washington. An 
hour before, he was blooming in life and urging on 
his men to the fight, while even more than theelo- 
quence of the appeal, his own gallant l)earing had 
influence. But few moments had the devoted 
chief to gaze on the inanimate form of his friend. 
Alas ! the times brooked no delay. But to Capt. 
Olney's account again of the Rhode-Island regi- 
ment. 

" When they came up with the British regi- 
ment, Colonel Hitchcock, he says, was sick and 
absent. Major Israel Angell, the only field officer 
present, made a short speech to the regiment, en- 
couraging them to act the part that became brave 
soldiers, worthy of the cause for which we were 
contending. We then marched a short distance 
with a wood upon our right, and partly in front, 
and the first notice that I had of the enemy being 
so near, they, to the number of 30 or 40, fired a 
full volley on the front of the column composed of 
Jersey or Pennsylvania militia, who broke and 
came runninq- Ihrousfh our ranks. This had like 
to have disordered our march, but Captain Jere- 
miah Olney, in a peremptory manner, ordered 
them to join our platoon. I was in this platoon, 
and I seconded the motion, in earnest^ so that with 
some persuasion, and a few hard words, some ten 
or twelve of them complied, and the rest made off 
into the woods. 

When clear of the woods and other obstructions, 
our column displayed and marched in lirje; at this 
instant the enemy made a full discharge of mus- 
ketry and field-pieces, loaded with grape shot, 
which made the nsost horrible music about our 
ears I had ever heard, but as ihey overshot, there 
were but i^ew but what continued the march, look- 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 199 

ing well at the colors, which were carried steadily 
by ensign Oliver Jencks, of Cumberland, (no fool 
of a job to carry colors steady at such a time.) 
The enemy perceiving we were not all dead and 
that we continued to advance in order with a re- 
served charge for them, turned their backs and 
fled in disorder. We pursued them to Princeton 
College, where the 300 submitted as prisoners. 
By this time, our cannon, which we had left at 
the bridge, west of Princeton, began to play at 
the enemy we had left at Trenton, who having 
lost sight of us last night, were in pin'suit of us 
this morning. From the time it took to secure 
the prisoners, I was fearful that both the contend- 
ing armies would pass through the town together; 
but it happened ours got over first, and took the 
road to Millstone ; theirs were at our heels, but 
they returned to their winter quarters at Bruns- 
wick. 

"When at Princeton, we lamented very much 
the want of 400 or 500 fresh troops, to have pro- 
ceeded to Brinisvvick to burn their winter provi- 
sions, magazines, &c. The two last nights' march, 
the first through mud, snow and water, the last 
over frozenground, with the hardships of the day, 
seemed to have nearly exhausted both men and 
officers — some of whom were almost as bad as 
barefoot. Though we were rather short of provi- 
sions no one complained, and we hnd been too 
busily engaged to think of hunger; and we re- 
joiced to find ourselves so much better situated 
than we were the preceding nigiU at Trenton." 

It was during this battle that Captain OIney 
was so happy as to save tlie life of Colonel Mon- 
roe, afterwards President of the United States. 
He fell in endeavoring to rally the affrighted mi- 
litia of Pennsylvania, in the beginning of the bat- 
tle, and as they rushed through the ranks of the 



2G0 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Rhode-Island regiment, creating great disorder, 
Captain Jeremiah OJney stopped some of them 
and compelled them to form with their platoon, 
while Stephen Olney raised Colonel Monroe, and 
carried hitn to a place of safety, not dreaming that 
he bore in his arms the future President of the 
Union. This must have been the work of a mo- 
ment, for he was very soon back again and fight- 
ing. It is singular that Captain Olney does not 
mention any thing of this in his narrative, but 
probably he considered it as irrelevant to the his- 
tory of the battle. It is said that he never spoke 
of it except when questioned on the subject, and 
possibly thought it ostentatious to boast of an ac- 
tion resulting in mere humanity, in his own his- 
tory. 

The task of the army on this day, was no easy 
one ; the soldiers of the British camp came up to 
Princeton almost at the same time with Washing- 
ton's rear guard, who found himself again in im- 
minent danger ; ihe soldiers, who had taken no 
rest of consequence through the two preceding 
nights, were obliged to retreat from Princeton to 
the upper and mountainous regions of New-Jer- 
sey, destroying the bridges as they went, to pre- 
vent the pursuit of the enemy. They proceeded 
to occupy Pluckmin, where they had a breathing 
spell, and refreshed themselves until they could 
retire to Morristown, in upper Jersey. At this 
place Captain Olney completed his month, and 
feeling exceedingly anxious to see his family, left 
the army and returned to them for a season. Be- 
fore he went, however, it was his lot to be sent out 
on a foraging party, where he had nearly got wors- 
ted. It was after they had become encamped at 
Morristown ; we shall relate it in his own words. 

"To complete the extra month's service, I was 
in a detachment of about 300, under command of 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 201 

Colonel Lippitt and Lieutenant Colonel Henshaw, 
as a patrol or scouting" party. We left our encamp- 
ment near JVlorristown, and proceeded to within 20 
or 30 rods of the road, leading- from Brunswick to 
Bonunitovvn, equidistant from each place, which 
was occupied by the enemy in great force ; a liglit 
horseman crave information there was an enemy 
near ; w^e made a halt to eat dinner side of the 
wood, which extended to the road. 

When we had done dinner Captain Jeremiah 
Olney asked me, " if there were any sentries out.'"' 
I replied, "-'I do not know ;" he said, '^ there ought 
to be," and then observed jocosely, "it was not 
our business, we were only passengers." In a few 
moments Colonel Lippitt returned from partly to- 
wards the enemy, and ordered the troops to arms, 
faced to the right and began to march by files, but 
before the rear had moved, the enemy's flank 
guard (I suppose,) fired a small volley at our rear. 
Whether they hurt or killed any I did not know, 
as I could not see the rear, or the enemy for the 
bushes ; and instead of taking an advantageous po- 
sition, on the top of a hill covered with wood, 
Col. Lippitt led us to the front, into the Bonum- 
town road, and then turned towards Brunswick 
about 20 rods; on rising a hill, we met the enemy's 
column with their field-pieces, abruptly ; they did 
not fire on us as I expected, nor we at them ; Col. 
Lippitt wheeled then short about and retreated 30 
or 40 rods, and formed in line behind a fence; 
their flank guard then came out of the woods, and 
from near where we had stopped to dine, and took 
a look of us without firing a gun; but some one or 
two of our men were so afraid they would, that 
they run oft' clear. We stopped but little, and 
marched off fairly. The manoetivres of this day 
was enough to terrify the most veteran soldier. 
It was not our business to begin a fight 20 miles 



202 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

from home, within the enemy's lines, unless we 
could surprise an inferior party and grab them at 
once. If Colonel Lippitt meant to fight, why did 
he not charge them stoutly when we first met ? 
and if he did not mean to fight, why march us 
into the enemy's track, and give him a chance to 
come upon our right flank ; while with a part of 
his force he attacked us in front ? 

I presume, however, Colonel Lippitt was not 
acquainted with the enemy's force, nor they with 
his. The probabihty was, the enemy was supe- 
rior in numbers ; and having artillery, and being 
on their own ground, had the advantage. Noth- 
ing but the tardiness of the enemy saved us from 
a cruel defeat. On the other hand of it was a 
small party, as a guard for stores going to Bonum- 
town. The want of information and an enter- 
prising officer, prevented the enemy's overthrow. 
In point of military commanders, I presume nei- 
ther side had much to brag of." We should think 
with Captain Olney, for a more stupid piece of 
work, on both sides, certainly never happened. 
He then goes on to say, that it was, possibly, ow- 
ing to indisposition of Colonel Lippitt, who was 
subject to spells of sick headache. 

'^The extra month for which I was engaged," 
continues Captain Olney, "expired about the 1st 
of February, and 1 returned home, and supposed 
I was clear of the army ; but found I had been ap- 
pointed a Captain in the second Rhode-Island regi- 
ment, commanded by Colonel Israel Angell. Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Jeremiah Olney and Major Simeon 
Thayer were field officers on the continental es- 
tablishment. My pay hitherto, as a subaltern, 
had scarcely been sufficient for my expenses and 
frugal support. I was in hopes that a Captain's 
pay of 40 dollars per month, would yield me some 
remuneration, and as the American cause had be- 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 203 

come more desperate, it seemed like cowardice, 
and dishonorable to forsake my country now in 
distress, thoug-li many of the officers that liad been 
brought up more dehcately, had by the service al- 
ready performed, become satisfied, and found their 
patriotism expended, and declined serving" any 
lonerer." 



CHAPTER VI. 



For the first time, except to make a stay of 24 
hours. Captain Olney visited his home. It was no 
small task to get there, but the longing desires of 
the youthful husband and father to see his family, 
lent him strength for the undertaking ; besides, he 
was not alone, the greater part of the Rhode-Is- 
land regiment disbanded and came off at the time. 
They could not come by water, the sound was 
too unsafe a place, at that time ; and after getting 
to Albany and crossing the North river, they pro- 
ceeded on foot, through a part of the State of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, to Rhode-Island. 
It was the comniencement of the month of March, 
1778, a time of the year when travelling is always 
bad. Nevertheless, he arrived safe, and had the 
pleasure of finding his family well, and of seeing 
for the first time his first born, and spending a few 
weeks in the bosom of his family. 

During his stay in the army, the terrors of the 
small pox liad frequently beset them, the prisoners 



204 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

brought ill from the English camp, were always 
more or less suspected of infection. It was said, 
with how much truth we cannot now say, that 
the British had used stratagems to convey this dis- 
ease to the American camp. We will not vouch 
for the correctness of this at the present day, but 
we will venture to say, that if they did not do it, 
it was because they did not think of it. 

Captain Olney was one that had uneasy feelings 
about it, and he had resolved to embrace the first 
opportunity to go through regular inoculation. His 
fears, let no one suppose, was want of courage, or 
of fortitude to meet death. To die on the field of 
battle, and to expire in the camp of some noxious 
disease, is two tilings. A hospital had been open- 
ed in Coventry, R. I., and in the month of April 
he went and was inoculated. After his recovery 
and a short visit to his family again, he prepared 
to rejoin the army. 

The victorious chief of the American army in 
the meanwhile, had been scouring the Jerseys as 
far as the Raritan, he even crossed this river, and 
made himself master of Newark, in the county of 
Essex, of Elizabethtown, and finally of Wood- 
bridge, so that he now commanded the entire 
coast of New-Jersey, in front of Staten Island, and 
fortified them so formidably that the royalists 
shrunk from all attempt to dislodge them. Locked 
up in the two towns of New-Brunswick and Am- 
boy, they could rarely go out to plunder or even 
to fornge without extreme peril, and many a good 
brush with them had the Rhode-Island regiments 
lost, by having disbanded at the time they did. 
The loyalists in New-Jersey had turned about, dis- 
gusted and outraged by the conduct of the British 
trooj)s, and now made common cause with the re- 
publicans, and those who could not fight acted as 
spies, so that whenever the royalists made a 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 205 

movement, the Americans were apprized of it and 
enabled to lay an an)buscade for them. History 
says "that the cause of this chang-e must be at- 
tributed to the unheard of ferocity with which the 
British carried on the war, and that the cruelties, 
the massacres, and the ravages, practiced by the 
British and Hessian soldiers, even under the eyes 
of their officers, were too bad to mention. These 
last, who had left their homes and consented for a 
few pence per day to become the instruments of 
the tyranny of others, were even more detested 
than the British. 

'' The Hessians, it was said, had so loaded 
themselves with booty, as to have become almost 
a burden, and the English were afraid to offend 
them. Hence they laid hands without distinction 
upon all they met with ; friends or foes shared the 
same fate that fell in their path ; and so terrible 
were their barbarities, that one simultaneous cry at 
length arose from New-Jersey," and in fact, from 
the whole American continent. The wail of the 
sufferers was borne across the ocean, it aroused 
the nations of Europe, and above all " it entered 
into the ears of the God of Sabbaoth." '' There 
was a general exclamation throughout Europe, 
that the English government had revived in the 
New World, the fury of the Goths, and the bar- 
barity of the Northern herds." 

" But such inhumanity returned upon its source, 
and became more fatal after all to the authors than 
to the victims." Having after many skirmishes, 
succeeded in making them pretty quiet for the pres- 
ent, Washington availed himself of an interval of 
rest to have his army inoculated; rhey had there- 
fore gone through with that operation, and the 
General considered them as delivered from that 
dreadful scourge, at about the same time that Cap- 
tain Olney had. 
18 



206 I^IFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Captain Olriey found the quarters changed on 
his arrival, to a place called Courtland Manor, 
where they had collected a magazine of provisions, 
forage, and stores of all sorts. The place they 
now occupied, was one of great natural advanta- 
ges ; it was a kind of citadel in itself; the little vil- 
lage of Peekskill, about 50 miles up the Hudson, 
served as a kind of port to it, by which it both re- 
ceived and dispersed supplies. Into this most ro- 
mantic and picturesque place the principal part 
of the army had retired, and never did the Round 
Heads of Scotland, or the persecuted Hugenots of 
France, select among their mountain fastnesses, a 
place that looked more inaccessible, than this, upon 
the river side. A tremendous steep and winding 
road leads up to the village, while on one side or 
other a gouge in the mountain is so deep, that 
it pains one to look down, and people who have 
nerves generally shut their eyes when they ride 
up ; beautiful and extensive as the prospect is from 
the top, the pleasure of viewing it is really marred 
by looking immediately below ; if there were no 
way of access to it but by this route, the Ameri- 
can army might have staid there until this time 
without beini*- routed. 

It was early in the month of June, when nature 
in this region looks so enchantingly lovely, when 
the blossoms of spring had yielded to the deep 
green of sunmier, and the dark glens and gloomy 
ravines were made still more dark by the shadow 
of the forest trees that stretched their umbrageous 
boughs here and there across the gulph below, 
veiling with perfidious beauty the deceitful pits and 
chasms that lurked there, that Captain Olney by 
a steep and narrow path, gained the encampment 
of the modern Israelites. And oh, what a scene 
must have burst upon his view. Thousands had 
been added to the army since he left it; new hope. 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 207 

new life, new energy, awoke in every bosom; lines 
above lines, of snowy tents, adorned the sides of 
the lofty mountains, while the glitter of arms re- 
flected by the summer sun, shone from the crowd- 
ed ranks, that were paraded on the green. High 
above the tents, the marquee of the commander 
in chief, was distinguished, by the banner of his 
country, (the star spangled banner) ; on every em- 
inence that could be seen, the war}' sentinel was 
walking his rounds, ever and anon turning a watch- 
ful eye down the mighty Hudson. 

What were the feelings of liis brave and manly 
heart we can conceive better than we can express. 
He was a man that felt infinitely more than he 
could express ; and then the cordial recognition, 
the warm pressure of the hand, and the hearty 
welcome back to quarters, we may imagine, 
^''ashington, whom he had so long followed, 
Washington, whose mild, benevolent, saint-like 
countcnanee, it was worth a journey across the 
ocean to see, was there, to congratulate the Cap- 
tain on his promotion. 

it is very surprising that among all the descrip- 
tions of Washington, that peculiar expression of 
countenance, has never been alluded to ; though 
lofty, it resembles what we should suppose that 
of a glorified spirit, more than a w^arrior, and just 
that cast, that the painters of old have given to 
their saints in their pictures of the resurrection. 

With renewed ardor the new Captain entered 
upon the duties of his station. With him they 
were absorbing ; friends, family, fortune, were sec- 
ondary considerations, while the honor, and liber- 
ties of his country, were at stake. But his enjoy- 
ments at Peekskill were not to be of long continu- 
ance. The English being unable to attack them 
by land on account of their peculiarly advantageous 
position, resolved to attempt them by a circuitous 



208 I^^FE OF STEPHEN OLNEY- 

path from the Hudson ; and putting* their troops on 
board transports, set out for the service. To spend 
blood or treasure in defending* a place of so little 
consequence, was no part of the plans of Washing*- 
ton, who had other uses for which he wished to 
reserve his troops. He therefore abandoned it, and 
such of their magazines as could not be conven- 
iently removed, they set fire to. 

The courage of the army at this time had been 
very much excited by the accounts from Connect- 
icut, where the British had been successfully re- 
pulsed by the militia under Generals Arnold and 
Wooster, and Colonel Huntington. Arnold in par- 
ticular had very much distinguished himself, 
(Wooster having fallen in the early part of the 
contest,) and not only given the enemy a taste of 
powder, but actually driven them to their ships. 

Colonel Meigs, too, one of the intrepid compan- 
ions of Arnold in Canada, had crossed the Sound 
in the night over to Sag Harbor on Long Island, 
where the enemy's magazines were kept. The 
Sound was filled with British cruisers. Sag Har- 
bor was defended by a detachment of infantry and 
a sloop of war of 12 guns. Colonel Meigs, with 
his little band, notwithstanding a stout resistance, 
burned a dozen brigs and sloops which lay at the 
wharf, and destroyed every thing on shore, and 
returned just before light, bringing with him many 
prisoners. Never was the gospel command to re- 
turn good for evil, more conscientiously observed 
than in this treatment of the vanquished. The 
Americans abstained from the pillage of private 
property, and even perniitted their prisoners (En- 
glishmen though they were) to retain their pri- 
vate property. Here we must be permitted to 
make a short digression. 

The effect of the treatment we have mentioned, 
though it went sorely against the judgment and 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 209 

feeling's of many who wanted to make reprisals, 
was auspicious for the country. The contrast 
betvv^een the conduct of the two nations was so 
great, so wonderful, that it excited universal ad- 
miration. Tlieir moderation and humanity, under 
such exceeding- provocation too ! We cannot but 
attribute a part of the numerous desertions from 
the British army to our own to the influence of 
superior humanity, as much as to any thing* else. 
These desertions it was known were very great. 

From Peekskill, the division of the army under 
Washington, in which was Captain OIney, were 
marched to the neighborhood of Brunswick again, 
and took possession of the country along Middle 
Brook, on the left bank of the Raritan. In this 
^situation they could command a view of the Brit- 
ish encampment within a few miles of Brunswick. 
The American army then amounted to fifteen thou- 
sand men, inclusive of the North-Carolinians and 
the militia of New-Jersey ; but many of the com- 
panies Vv^ere totally undisciplined. 

The great design of the British at this time ap- 
peared to be to force Washington to a pitched bat- 
tle. Every art was resorted to, to effect it, but in 
vain. Washington had resolved never to com- 
mit the fortunes of America to the hazard of a 
single action. In pursuance of this project the 
entire British army, with the exception of 2000 
men left in the defence of Brunswick, Cornwallis, 
at the head of the vanguard, marched down nine 
miles and came, directly in front of the Ameri- 
can army, to give them battle. A division had 
marched round by another road, to be ready to 
inclose the Americans, should they accept the 
challenge. Washington descried their plan, and 
only drew up his army on the heights, which de- 
fended the front of his camp, in order of battle, 
1-8* 



210 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

and kept it all the following night under arms^ 
while General Sullivan, with his division, had 
inarched round to disquiet the enemy in front, and 
then join General Washington, should it be neces- 
sary. 

General Howe, finding the Americans too wary 
to fall into his snares in this way, tried another, 
which was to put on the appearance of fear and 
retreat to Brunswick, and from thence to Amboy. 
Accordingly on the night of the 19th, he suddenly 
departed thence, burning and pillaging houses as 
they went, in order to arouse the incJignation of 
the Americans to follow him. From Amboy they 
fell back to the shores opposite Staten Island, and 
then threw over their bridge, one they had pre- 
pared in order to cross the Delaware with. By 
this means the American commanders were at 
length deceived, and Washington came down from 
his strong fortress after them. On the night of the 
25th of June, General Howe drev/ back his troops 
from Staten Island to the Jersey shore, and put- 
ting them into two divisions, one to bring the 
main body of the American army to an engage- 
ment, and the other to push on and gain the for- 
tress of Middle Brook, to prevent the Americans 
from occupying it again. Unseen and unheard by 
the Americans, the}^ were Coming on, and what 
the event might have been cannot be seen, but 
probably it would have been very fatal to the 
American army, had not Lord Cornwallis, in pass- 
ing the road just beyond Woodbridge, suddenly 
fell in with a party of 700 American riflemen. 
Who these brave fellows were, history does not 
feay. Whether it was some company just coming 
to join the main army, or some foraging party 
just returning, but their names deserve to be re- 
corded, to give battle to such a host, for, nothing 
daunted, they poured in, commenced blows im- 



LiFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 21 1 

■mediately, and, with their Httle handful of men, 
warmly disputed the passage. Compelled at last 
to retreat, and save tliemselves by flight, many of 
them made out to get to the camp of Washington, 
and warn him of the danger of his army ; the fir- 
ing of their musketry had warned him before of 
danger, but he could not distinctly understand it, 
until those brave fellows communicated ir. His 
resolution was immediately taken, to recover the 
fortress he had imprudently deserted. Accord- 
ingly he lost no time in regaining the camp of Mid- 
dle Brook, and placing a strong force in the passes 
of the mountains. 

Lord Sterling, with about 3000 men, disputed 
the passage of the army of Cornwallis, but after 
a short time was routed. Cornwallis attempted 
to push on towards the American encampment, 
but the danger from the woody country and the 
intense heat, decided him to return. The relax- 
ing heat of the climate and its tendency to weari- 
ness and lassitude, seems not to have prevented 
great exertions on both sides. At the time of 
which we are speaking, prudence warned General 
Howe and Cornwallis to turn back and retrace 
their steps. They had now become convinced, 
that Washington was not to be taken by strata- 
gem, and his impregnable situation was such now 
that force would be unavailing. 

Philadelphia was now the darling project of the 
British, and as there was no other way, it was now 
decided to attack it by water. Still in order to 
deceive the Americans they made a feint as though 
their intention was to go up the Hudson to join 
the Canada army, of which news had just been 
received that they had taken the fortress of Ticon- 
deroga. Scarcely a day's rest had been allowed 
the army, since the return of Captain Olney to 
camp ; marchings and countermarchings, alarms, 



212 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

and retreats, yet he had set his life upon the cast- 
ing of the die, and he resolved to abide the issue ; 
personal attachment to the great commander in 
chief of the American army had now become min- 
gled with other feelings, and he has been heard 
to sa,y since, that such were his feelings, that " if 
he had been so unfortunate as to have lost one 
leg, he would have continued to follovv him with 
the other." He had now to commence a rapid 
march towards Peekskill again, in order to be 
ready to co-operate with the army if nessesary at 
Albany, for to this neighborhood the British pre- 
tended they were now going, and hearing of the 
success of the Canadian army, there seemed little 
doubt it v/as their intention to march up and form 
a conjunction at Albany. Nevertheless, they had 
no such intention, in reality, and VVashngton soon 
became aware of the truth, and again altered the 
position of the various detachments, sent out on 
advanced posts, &c. The history of the various 
manoeuvres of the British fleet, and of those of the 
American army in consequence, would fill a vol- 
ume itself. Nothing could be more arduous than 
the fatigue of moving about continually from place 
to place, the constant changing of baggage, &c., 
connected with the harassing anxiety they must 
necessarily have to undergo. The heat was in- 
tense during some part of the time. Capt. Olney, 
who zealously sought to perform the duties of 
his new station, was one who never complained. 
No expression of chagrin, or disappointment, or 
weariness, escapes him in the journal which he 
has left. One day the British fleet would be seen 
steering this way, another that ; while ever as the 
belief prevailed that he was bound up the Hud- 
son to efl'ect a junction with the army from Cana- 
da, under Burgoyne, they were promptly moving 
northward ; and when from his tacking the other 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 213 

way, they divined the city of Philadelphia was 
menaced — then their position was again directed 
«outh ; still, the soldiers and their conrinianders kept 
up their courage. 

Reports of a discouraging nature from time to 
time reached them from the north. The taking 
of Ticonderoga fortress and of Fort Edward, was 
alarming; but then the news of the battle of Ben- 
nington, in which their countrymen had so highly 
distinguished themselves and proved victorious, 
convinced ihem that British arms were not more 
omnipotent at the north than elsewhere ; still, the 
great fear was, that a junction might be form-ed 
near Albany, that place taken, and as a matter of 
course, the whole country overrun. The capture 
of Philadelphia would be a serious injury ; but of 
all the evils to be dreaded, the junction of the 
two armies was infinitely the greatest. 

While the British troops, after being detained 
long by contrary winds, were finally on their way 
from the Delaware to the Chesapeake, (which lat- 
ter they did not reach until the last of August,) 
an expedition was undertaken by General Sullivan 
asrainst Staten Island, in which he landed without 
opposition, and took many prison-ers ; but was af- 
terwards repulsed with considerable loss ; upon 
which he retired towards Philadelphia. On the 
25th of August, 1777, the British disembarked near 
the head of the river Elk, eighteen thousand 
strong, of regular and well trained troops, and 
plentifully furnished with all munitions of war. 
The whole army took post behind the river Chris- 
tana, having Newark on the right, and Atkins on 
the left. A column commanded by Cornwallis, 
having fallen in with Maxwell's riflemen, routed 
and pursued them as fcir as White Clay Creek, 
with a loss of some dead and severely wounded. 
The American army, in order to encourage the 



214 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

inhabitants, had marched through Philadelphia^ 
and were now encamped behind the White Clay 
Creek, partly in the town of Newport, and near 
the Christana river, on the Philadelphia road. 
The air through the summer months, and even 
for some time in the autumn, in this region, is 
very close, from the lov/ swampy shores of the 
Delaware, peculiarly so, fertile and beautiful to the 
eye, as the rank luxuriance of vegetation is, the 
climate is peculiarly trying to an English constitu- 
tion. Both parties ielt the oppressive heat sensi- 
bly, but too mucli was at stake to heed it. 

The battle of Brandywine was fought in one of 
the most delicious spots in the fertile State of Del- 
aware. The whole route from Couche's bridge, 
25 miles from the battle ground, is through a very 
fine country, as well as the battle ground and it& 
environs. It is about sixteen miles from Wilming- 
ton and four from Chestet\ Nothing can exceed 
the romantic beauty of the Brandywine walks, as 
they are called, for miles above Wilmington. It 
seems impossible, while gazing on the quiet love- 
liness of the spot, to realize that the voice of war 
ever disturbed the soft repose of the scene, that 
the foot of the ruthless conqueror ever pressed the 
velvet turf. 

Captain Olney had the misfortune, (shall we 
say,) to be absent on the memorable 11th of Sep- 
tember. On this day he was stationed at an ex- 
posed post, which they thought proper not to leave 
unguarded, in Jersey. 

The main army had recently been reinforced 
by some gentlemen of France. Lafayette, the 
Baron St. Overy, and Captain De Fleury, had 
q-enerously volunteered their services. The Mar- 
quis Lafayette had himself chartered the vessel 
that brought him over, and had received the ap- 
pointment of Major-General in the army of the 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 215 

United States iiiimediately on his arrival. The 
Count Pulaski, also, a noble Pole, had come over 
to the rescue, and all of these were in the battle 
of Brandy wine. The disastrous result of that bat- 
tle is well known. It appears that Washington 
was deceived with respect to the British army 
having crossed the river, and supposed until they 
were within four miles of him that the Brandy- 
wine was between them. Knowing, however, 
that a battle was now inevitable, as the last resort 
to save Philadelphia, his mind was made up to 
the event, and notwithstanding the disparity of 
their forces, the British having the superiority by 
several thousand, he had decided on it, and the 
disposition of the diflerent brigades were already 
made. 

A council of war had been held at the house of 
Mr. Joseph Tatnal, at the Brandywine village, 
near Wilmington, on the preceding evening, and 
the plan settled for the attack, or defence, Vvhich- 
ever should be found expedient. At this hospita- 
ble dv/elling, the General and the other officers of 
the Anierican army had been made welcome ever 
since being in that vicinity, and he had been has- 
tily sunmioned from there on the preceding eve- 
ning by the report, which was afterwards found 
to be fiilse, of the British having passed the Bran- 
dywine. At the time this really took place, on the 
succeeding day, they were lulled into a temporary 
security. 

We were told b}^ an aged person in the vicinity 
of the battle ground, of the Society of Friends, 
who has a distinct recollection of the events of 
that week, that Washington and some of his offi- 
cers were seated around on the bank of the river, 
for the first time taking some refreshment on that 
day. The hero eat on a stump with a piece of 
ham in one hand and bread in the other, when a 



210 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

messenger suddenly appeared before him, sayin-g- 
that the English army had passed the river, and 
were within four miles. Dashing* the untasted 
morsel to the earth, he sprang to his feet and gave 
the necessary orders. The drums beat to arms, 
and every thing was now in a state of preparation. 
Generals Stevens, Sterling, and Sullivan, on the 
right wing, sustained the first assanlt, and with 
sj-reat valor. Washington perceiving them at length 
give way, led on to the rescue — but it was too late; 
he met the flying soldiers of Sullivan, and in vain 
sought to rally them. 

Gen. Greene, by a judicious manoeuvre, opened 
his ranks to receive the flying fugitives, and then 
closed them again, covering the retreat in good 
order, checking the pursuit of the enemy by a 
continual fire of artillery which covered his rear. 
And having retreated as far as a wood, he again 
drew lip his men and faced the enemy. Hiscorpa 
composed of Virginians and Pennsylvanians, de- 
fended, and could mortal arm have turned the tide 
of battle, without the aid of nimibers, his would 
have done it. The third division of the Ameri- 
cans, being assaulted with great force, the repub- 
licans there stood firm until hearing of the retreat 
of the first division, and seeing a new party of the 
enemy coming upon their rear, they retreated to 
the wood and passed behind the position of Gen. 
Greene, who was still with his men in the heat of 
the battle, defending themselves bravely ; nor did 
they retreat or cease their fire until the darkness 
compelled both armies to give over. 

Had General Greene never distinguished him- 
self on any other occasion, this enterprise alone 
must have stamped hhn as one of the greatest 
Generals of the age ; cool, resolute, and undaunt- 
ed, he had that superior judgment and self-posses- 
sion in the hour of extreme peril that belongs tt> 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 0|7 

few. The Frenchman, and the gallant Pole, were 
of signal use that day ; they not only enacted pro- 
digies of valor, but when they found the fortunes 
of the day were lost, they assisted materially in 
conducting the retreat, and establishing order. 
Near 400 were taken prisoners, and to the great 
regret of Congress, the Baron St. Overy was one. 
General Lafayette was wounded in the leg, and 
Captain de Fleury had his horse shot under him. 
The battle of Brandy wine commenced at 4 o'clock, 
in the afternoon and lasted until dark, nearly four 
hours. The Americans lost 300 killed, and 500 
wounded, and 400 taken prisoners. The English 
had over 400 wounded and prisoners, and 100 kill- 
ed. This, in an army of 15,000 men, and in such 
a sanguinary fight, does not seem a very large 
number. The whole American army retreated 
that night to Chester, and the day following, to 
Philadelphia. 



CHAPTER VII. 

With mournful feelings, the commander in chief 
and his brave associates, turned themselves from 
the field of battle, and from the sad spectacle of 
their departed comrades, their unburied dead. 
*' 300 immortal souls, are this day to us as thouq"h 
they had never been," said a brave and venerable 
man to his friend, attached to the corps of General 
19 



rtis LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Greene, as they marched with cautious steps on 
that night towards Chester. " Yes, and we may 
join them to-morrow," responded the other, " but, 
if I hve, may I be hanged if I don't avenge their 
deaths, as far as one arm can do it." The tmflinch- 
ing and indomitable spirit manifested during the 
war by even the poorest and most destitute of 
the friends of liberty, is truly astonishing. 

The day after the battle of Brandy wine, towards 
evening, the English sent a detachment of light 
troops, to Wilmington, to pillage, &c. and put the 
inhabitants under contribution. They took the 
Governor of the state, prisoner, searched the 
houses for treasure, but did not find much, as the 
honor of their visit had been anticipated, and the 
wary inhabitants took the liberty to hide it, where 
no foreigners would be very likely to find it ; how- 
ever they were very polite to them, and many in- 
sinuated they were very much their friends, and 
at several houses where they did them the honor 
to call, the hosts regretted exceedingly their wives 
and daughters were not at home to do them hon- 
or ! ! their apologies were accepted, and much ci- 
vility exchanged on the occasion. They entered 
the Brandywine village, as it is called, (a little 
handful of houses, just under the hill, that over- 
looks the river of that name, and a most romantic 
spot) so suddenly that they were not perceived 
by the inhabitants, until they were in the midst of 
them. Two little girls, at the entrance of the vil- 
lage, sat see-sawing on a board, and singing Yan- 
kee Doodle, a tune, by the way, originally com- 
posed by a British officer, in derision of the Amer- 
icans, and afterwards adopted by them as a na- 
tional air. It is truly laughable that notwithstand- 
ing its parentag-e, none of the Englishmen heard 
it afterwards without getting into a passion. On 
$his ©ccasion the terrified children fled to their 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 219 

parents pursued by the soldiers, who being fast- 
ened out, burst in the windows. The father how- 
ever called for their commander and requested his 
protection, and he, probably thinking it of more 
importance to push on and secure the person of 
the Governor, than to '' frighten unarmed women 
and children into fits," bade them desist, and 
inarched on. These anecdotes were narrated to 
the author while travelling through that region, 
by some aged persons in the vicinity. 

It will be remembered, that immediately after 
this, Washington, having recruited his army, 
marched out to give the enemy battle, but a heavy 
rain coming on, he was obliged, and they too, to 
withdraw. By a series of manoeuvres the BritisVi 
General succeeded in placing himself between 
the city of Philadelphia and the forces of Wash- 
ington. It was now obvious that one or the other 
must fall, for from the condition that the army 
were now in, it was prudent not to engage the en- 
emy in a pitched battle. Some forces had been 
sent for from the Jerseys to reinforce them, and 
among the rest the Rhode-Island regiment to 
which out hero belonged, but they had not yet ar- 
rived, and Washington w^as obliged to abandon 
Philadelphia to the enemy. The Congress imme- 
diately adjourned to Lancaster in Pennsylvania, 
removed the public magazines and archives, and 
ordered the vessels at the wharf removed up the 
Delaware. About 20 individuals were then taken 
into custody, the greater part Quakers, avowed 
enemies to the State. They were sent off to Stan- 
ton in Virginia, for safe keeping. Cornwallis and 
his army entered it on the 26th of September, 
while Washington encamped quietly within sixteen 
miles of Germantow^n to await the event. 

The army of the enemy immediately set about 
fortifying the city, while the Americans, with the 



220 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

frigate Delaware, anchored witliin 500 yards of 
them, and commenced a bombardment of the 
city, but the tide falling they were finally exposed 
to the whole fire of the British, and obliged to 
stril^e. In anticipation of this event the Ameri- 
cans had been constructing, at great labor and ex- 
pense, all manner of obstructions to interrupt the 
navigation of the river, thinking they could starve 
out the enemy, if they could only prevent their 
being supplied by water, as they trusted the army 
could cut off their provisions by land. In pursu- 
ance of this plan, they had erected forts at Red 
Bank, at Mud Island, called Fort Mifflin, and one 
at a place called Billings' Point, lower down, on the 
Jersey shore. They had also constructed a che- 
vaux de frise in several places on the river to pre- 
vent the large vessels from passing to the relief of 
the British army. 

It was while things were in this state that the 
battle of Germantown was fought. It was an 
attack upon the extended forces of the British, 
planned with consummate wisdom, and a hard 
fought battle ; but owing principally to a thick fog 
that came up, the Americans were obliged to re- 
tire, and not being able to see each other, experi- 
enced considerable loss. 

The loss of Philadelphia caused no discourage- 
ment to the Americans ; they had just heard of 
the capture of Burgoyne's army, on the plains of 
Saratoga, a victory far more brilliant than that of 
their adversary in entering Philadelphia, when no 
one opposed him. The most unbounded confi- 
dence was reposed in their Generals, and particu- 
larly, in the commander in chief. 

With regard to the forts and removing the ob- 
structions in the Delaware, the fort at Billing's 
Point, was first attacked, by two British regiments, 
under Colonel Sterling ; and the Americans not 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 221 

feeling quite able to defend it, with the force they 
possessed, abandoned it, after spiking their can- 
non and setting fire to the barracks. Two strong 
forts yet remained, fort Mercer at Red Bank, and 
fort Mifflin at Mud Island, the most considerable 
of the three. The garrison at fort Mifflin, was 
commanded by Colonel, afterwards Gen. Smith, of 
Maryland, the present mayor of Baltimore, ; and 
fort Mercer, opposite, by Colonel Greene. 

General Howe had arranged for the attack of 
these forts ; and before giving Captain Olney's 
account of it, perhaps it is proper to give some 
idea of the place, and of the plan laid by the Brit- 
ish General to reduce it. 

Mud Island lies from seven to ten miles below 
Philadelphia; it is near the junction of the Schuyl- 
kill river, on the right hand or Pennsylvania side 
of the Delaware, as you go down towards the 
capes. Tradition says that it was originally, only 
a bank of mud and sand which being in the way, 
gradually accumulated, until it attained its present 
dimension ; but it bears a strong family likeness 
to the low marshy and sunken shores that border 
the Delaware, and may very fairly be exempted 
from the charge of having made itself. To this 
day, it preserves a kind of embankment against 
the Vv^^ter, and the same defence is conspicuous 
for many miles down the river. The channel, 
which is narrow, will not admit large ships of 
war. 

It seems scarcely possible, in tracing the ruins 
of these fortresses, to suppose they could have 
been such redoubtable places of defence ; they 
certainly look like very inefficient places, but 
manned by brave spirits, they sustained one of 
the most obstinate and protracted sieges of any 
during the war, and the delay they occasioned to 
19^ 



322 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

the prosecution of the war on the part of the Brit- 
ish, perhaps saved the American army. 

The plan laid by General Howe to attack these 
forts on the 22d of October, was to make the at- 
tack on three sides at once. Batteries of heavy 
cannon had been planted on the Pennsylvania 
shore, back of fort Mifliin. The Vigilant, ship of 
war, was then to pass up the narrow channel 
which separates Hog Island from the Pennsylva- 
nia shore, to attack it in the rear, while the ships 
Iris and Augusta, Avith the frigates, should come 
up the middle channel, which was wider and 
deeper. Fort Mercer was at the same time to be 
attacked in the rear by a strong detachment of 
Hessians, under the command of Colonel Donop, 
a German officer of great reputation, whose very 
name had before carried terror with it. The fort 
of Red Bank, which was the first attacked, con- 
sisted of extensive out-works, within which was a 
strong palisaded entrenchment, well furnished 
with artillery. 

Captain Olney speaks of Greene and AngelPs 
regiment being ordered to the defence effort Mer- 
cer, or Red Bank, as it was generally called. 

" The fort, he says, had been calculated for not 
less than 1500 or 2000 men, and our effective force 
of both regiments, (that is, the two Rhode-Island 
regiments,) was not more than 500 men, including 
a small company of artillery. Colonel Greene or- 
dered a breastwork made across the fort, so as to 
include about one third of it, which he meant to 
defend, evacuating the remainder, except by a few 
sentinels, to deceive the enemy. Our men were 
on duty all the time to complete the breastwork 
by the 22d of October. At that very time, about 
one o'clock, P. M., the enemy appeared on the 
Jersey side, with a force said to be 1200 strong, 
of Hessians. They had a British Major with 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 223 

ihem, who acted as linguist, and who advanced 
with a flag, and demanded tiie surrender of the 
fort, saying, "their force was amply sufficient to 
take it, and if we persisted in defence, tiiey would 
give no quarter, therefore our blood would be on 
our own heads." 

"Lieut. Col. Jeremiah Olney, of Providence, who 
had been deputed to meet the flag, replied with 
spirit, " We shall not ask for nor expect any quar- 
ter, and mean to defend the fort to the last ex- 
tremity." The place of meeting was only about 
ten or twelve rods from the fort, and Col. Olney 
had scarce time to get into it before they followed 
him by a tremendous discharge of grape shot and 
ball. Col. Jeremiah Olney, who was sent to meet 
the flag, was as brave a man perhaps as any in 
the army." It appears he really never knew what 
fear was. Many anecdotes of his intrepidity have 
at various times been narrated to the author of 
this work, the particulars of which have now es- 
caped from her recollection, tending to prove it, 
and the example, it was said, was not lost upon 
those who fought under him. He died in l<;j — , 
some years before his friend, Captain Olney. 
Honor to the memory of the brave ! The de- 
scendants of those who so nobly fought for free- 
dom, have a legacy that no reverses of fortune 
can take from them, and honor that no titles could 
bestow. 

"The enemy had placed their field pieces or 
artillery (said to be twelve) on the edge of the 
woods, within point-blank shot, and their first 
general discharge was tremendous. It made the 
gravel and dust fly iVom the top of our fort, and 
took olf all the heads that happened to be in the 
way. They then instantly advanced in two solid 
columns. Their left came first within musket 
Bhot, when we gave them a serious and well di- 



W4 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

rected fire, which rather disordered their column 
Still they continued to advance, and one or twa 
officers were killed or wounded on the brim of the 
breastwork, but the column became so broken that 
they were obliged to retreat. By this time the 
other column had made its way into that part of 
the fort which we had evacuated, and supposing" 
they were masters of the fort, huzzaed! and came 
on, perhaps, to cut up their prisoners. When with- 
in 50 or 60 paces, we began a fire upon them. 
They were put in disorder by getting over the 
fort. The officers persisted in pushing forward 
the men, until within about two paces of our 
breastwork, when our fire proved so destructive 
that they gave it up and retreated, leaving their 
dead and wounded. Eighty-seven of the former 
were buried in the ditch the next day. It was 
believed their killed and wounded exceeded 400. 
Our loss was small. Captain Shaw and four or 
five privates were killed, and 20 or 30 wounded." 

" I believe Asa Potter, of our company, was kill- 
ed by our own men. My company was stationed 
in a salient angle, connected within the curtain 
of the breast work, to rake the ditches on each 
side. When fighting, I thought my company quite 
secure, as the enemy looked to the bastions on 
each side ; therefore my men were deliberate, ex- 
cept one little Irishman, who was frightened out 
of his senses, but a few strokes with the but-end 
of my gun brought him to his duty. 

" While the enemy were in confusion, not more 
than 20 paces ofl^, a man by the name of Sweetzer 
insisted that I should see him kill when he fired. 
I indulged him four or five times, and his object 
fell. I then directed him to fire at an officer, and 
he only made him stagger a littfe. We fired at 
the column that came first. Our men partly on 
my left and rear fired across my station. When 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 305 

that column retreated and tlie other came up, I 
fired and fired upon it, and our men on the other 
side of the works, also fired across my station. 
Next day, Lieutenant Samuel Whipple told me he 
counted 13 musket halls loclg-ed within the breast- 
work, where it was impossible the enemy could 
have lodged them. The first line of the enemy's 
artillery, iatimidated some of the men so nuich 
they were afraid to show their heads above the 
breastworks, raised their guns and fired by guess 
work, notwithstanding Colonel Jeremiah Olney 
was busily employed thrashing them with his 
hanger. Count Donop, the German ofiicer, who 
led these Hessians to the attack, fell on this day ; 
he received thirteen musket ball wounds and re- 
treated out of the works, 20 or 30 rods, where he 
fell, but was brought into the fort after dark by 
Major Thayer, at the request of the Count's ser- 
vant, but died in a few days. 

" I had charge of the guard on that night after 
the battle. My sentries were placed round the 
whole fort. The part we had evacuated on the 
preceding day, was covered with dead, wounded, 
and dying Hessians. The groans and cries of the 
wounded and dying, were dreadful music to my 
ears ; and but for the reflection of what would 
have been our fate had they been victorious, our 
sympathy would have been truly distressing. 

" The day had been quite warm, but the night 
was extremely cold. I had on thin clothes, and 
never sufiered more at any time or season of the 
year. Several of the wounded and nearly dying, 
appeared to suflTer with the cold. I had them re- 
moved into a little hut without any floor, where 
was a little fire, which rendered them more com- 
fortable than in the open air. 

''The fort erected by the British on the Pennsyl- 
vania side of Mud Island, in order to reduce fort 



o;>6 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Mifflin, was so near our station at Red Bank, that 
they fired one 24 ]b. shot over our works ; this 
battery, with a ship cut down to make it draw lesB 
water, commenced a brisk fire on the fort, at the 
same time that one or two of our gun-boats at- 
tacked the English ship, and altogether made the 
most tremendous cannonade for about one hour 
that I ever heard." 

At the battle of Red Bank, or Fort Mercer, be- 
sides killing their commander, Mingerode, the sec- 
ond in command received a dangerous wound^ 
and Lieutenant Linsing, who had then to com- 
mand, suffered much in conducting the retreat by 
the galleys and floating batteries of the Americans. 
Captain Olney makes no mention of the Chevelier 
Du Plesis, one of those noble spirits who came 
over with Lafayette, and volunteered his services 
in the suffering cause of freedom ; but it was cer- 
tain that to his superior skill and valor, in direct- 
ing the artillery on that day, they were greatly 
indebted ; he was in fact, oq that occasion, " the 
spirit of the storm." The land force that attacked 
fort Mercer, were obliged to go back to Philadel- 
phia. Captain Olney estimated their loss at about 
four hundred, but it was supposed by persons, in 
that region, that not less than 500 were killed or 
mortally wounded ; as they went out 1200 strong 
and returned v/ith only 700 ; but this diminution 
might have been in part from desertion. Through 
the whole war, this evil proved a terrible annoy- 
ance to the British; notwithstanding the great 
prospect of booty and pillage, it was not always- 
possible to retain soldiers to burn, slay, and de- 
stroy, at sixpence per day. 

The ships that advanced to attack Mud Island, 
(Fort Mifflin,) soon found themselves in trouble, 
from the obstructions the Americans had sunk in 
the river. They found themselves obliged to wait 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 227 

for flood tide, which delay inconvenienced thena 
exceedingly ; besides which, a strong northwardly 
wind prevented one of thein from taking the ad- 
vantageous post assigned for her near the Pennsyl- 
vania shore. The Augusta and Merlin, the most 
considerable of these ships, became grounded so 
fast, they could not be moved. The frigates, how- 
ever, reached their stations, and commenced a 
brisk fire upon Fort Mifflin. A curious anecdote 
is related of General (then Colonel) Smith, the 
commander. In the heat of the battle, while the 
balls were whizzing about their heads, he observ- 
ed one of his Aids dodging this way and that, to 
avoid the balls and shells that passed him. It did 
not exactly comport with the ideas of bravery 
which the sturdy veteran had imbibed, and he 
turned fiercely to him, saying, "What do you 
dodge for, sir? the king of Prussia lost thirty Aids 
in one day." " Yes," replied the young man, with 
much quickness, " but Colonel Smith has not so 
many to lose." This was something like Captain 
Olney beating courage into one of his Irish sold- 
iers with the but-end of his musket. 

Notwithstanding the batteries on shore were 
opened upon Fort Mifflin at the same time, and 
the assault was tremendous, yet the shades of 
night fell upon them without their having derived 
any important advantage — and the Americans 
seized the opportunity to repair the breaches ia 
their works, and put themselves in order for bat- 
tle on the following day. On that night. Captain 
Olney, with a party of his soldiers, went over to 
assist in preparing them. A fatigue party, he calls 
it. They had to put up a row of palisades through 
a mud slough. "Cold, wet work," he observes, 
"and answered no purpose." 

The attack of the preceding night was renewed 
the next day ; not with any expectation of reduc- 



Ov28 LIFE OF STEPHEiST OLNEY. 

ing" the fort, but in order that under cover of the 
fire, their ships might be got off. But notwith- 
standing their efforts, the two ships were lost; the 
most considerable, the Augusta took fire accident- 
ally and blew up, and the British set fire to the 
Merlin and blew her up, to prevent her falling in- 
to the hands of the Americans. Their frigates of 
course, had to be drawn off, to avoid the effect of 
explosion ; so the battle ended for that time. 
This was on the 22d or 2Sd of October, and the 
attack was not renewed until the 15th of Novem- 
ber, as the English were not in a situation to re- 
new it until then. Col. Smith was slightly wound- 
ed, and had to give up the command to Major 
Thayer, of Providence, a brave and patriotic man, 
who did not disgrace the charge committed to him. 
Congress voted their thanks to Colonels Greene 
and Smith. 



CHAPTER VIH. 

The preparations to reduce fort Mifflin, still went 
on, while Red Bank had a season of repose ; the 
British were fortifying a little morassy island call- 
Province Island, in its rear, in order to batter fort 
Mifflin in its weakest part. They were incessant- 
ly employed in conveying their heavy artillery and 
stores of all sorts, and the Americans perceived 
with regret, that when their works should be com- 
pleted, their own situation would be no longer ten- 
able. Washington would have desired to expel 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 229 

the enemy from this place before their works 
should have been completed, but was obliged to 
abstain, as his army in that case might be sur- 
rounded, which would have been fatal. 

Every thing being prepared for the attack on 
fort Mifflin, it was renewed on the 15th of Novem- 
ber. All their ships having arrived at their posts, 
they opened a furious cannonade ; the Americans 
defended it with spirit, from the fort, while the 
batteries from New Jersey and the galleys, station- 
ed near that shore, began at the same time to re- 
turn the fire. "• It seemed," said an aged dweller 
near the scene of contest, '' as though heaven and 
earth were coming together." The tremendous 
roar of the guns was such as to be almost deaf- 
ening to a person on shore ; the fort itself was so 
shrouded in smoke and flame, that it was impossi- 
ble to see what was going on there, except when 
occasionally a gust of wind would sweep over, 
blowing it partially aside, and disclosing the busy 
scene acting on the ramparts. 

The manoeuvering of the ships, as they occasion- 
ally wore round to give a broadside, and the dex- 
terous manner in which they managed to avoid 
collision, was truly worth seeing. As fast as one 
breastwork was battered down, the Americans re- 
treated behind another, until all the outworks one 
after another, were knocked away, and the ditches 
were filled with their ruins ; not in the least dis- 
heartened, they continued the defence, though 
obliged to defend themselves from the body of the 
fortress. Their situation now became critical, 
but darkness, the season for plots and stratagems, 
was coming on, and they strained every nerve to 
hold on, until then, and then to show them one 
more Yankee trick ; " we could only," says Capt. 
Olney, '' be spectators all this time." Darkness, of 
20 



230 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

course, put an end to the contest, and preparations 
were making- with the enemy to renew the attack 
next day ; but behold, the next morning there 
was no force there. The Americans knowing it 
was now madness to attempt to defcHd a place in 
ruins, secretly conveyed all their stores and bag- 
gage over to Red Bank, destroyed and set fire to 
every thing about the fort, and conveyed them- 
selves over to the opposite fort, Mercer, at Red 
Bank, which yet iield out. The last strong hold 
of the patriots in tliat region, was that defended 
by the Rhode-Island regiments. 

The morning dawned upon the deserted island, 
and found only a blackened and solitary pile of ru- 
ins, standing within the swampy land, silent and 
deserted ; the spot, that a few short hours before, 
was a scene of such spirited warfare. No sound, 
succeeds to the roar of artillery, save the shriek of 
the water fowl as she flies over the island, or the 
ripple of the lazy stream, as it flows along the 
shore. Oh, it was a scene for the philosopher, but 
not long had he to contenjplate it, for the situation 
of things was soon discovered by the British, and 
a force marched in to take possession, and a des- 
patch forwarded the same day to New-York, and 
to their army in Canada to announce the " capture 
of the important garrison of fort MifHin." Cap- 
ture, indeed ! ! 

To dislodge the soldiers of Congress, (as they 
were then termed) from Red Bank, was still a task; 
the obstructions to the navigation of the Delaware 
could not be removed until this was done, and 
much precious time had already been consimied ; 
as the winter was approaching, and they began 
to find a dearth o( supplies, the scarcity of wood 
and provisions in Philadelphia began to be distress* 
ing. At length it was determined to send out an- 
other force to attack fort Mercer in the rear ; this 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 231 

was commanded by Cornvvallis. General Greene 
was sent round to oppose hirii ; he went accompa- 
nied by Lafayette as far as Burlington, but learn- 
inq- there that the force of Cornvvallis was greatly 
superior, he desisted, and prudently abandoned the 
plan of giving him battle. 

The Americans at Red Bank, finding Cornwal- 
iis approaching, with such an overwhelming force, 
concluded to abandon the fort. It was only, how- 
ever, upon losing all hope of succor, that they 
retreated, leaving their artillery, some stores, &c. 
They had several galleys and armed vessels near, 
now unprotected, and they took the advantage of 
a dark night, and run them past the batteries of 
Philadelphia, up the river. The English imme- 
diately despatched the Delaware frigate and a par- 
ty of seamen to man it, and took other measures 
to completely environ them. The Amiercans de- 
termined they should not lall into the hands of 
the rnemy, set fire to them and abandoned them, 
and they were all consumed, seventeen in number, 
including two floating batteries and four fire-ships. 
The Americans, themselves, escaped into New- 
Jersey, and regained the army of Washington. 

It was now the last of November, and the sea- 
son was so far advanced, the obstructions could 
not be removed, but in part, and the resistance 
of the Americans at these forts had so hindered 
the enemy, that they could find no opportunity 
to attack the army of Washington, before the vic- 
torious troops from the Hudson had joined him, 
and they were not disposed to attack them, then. 
The troops that assisted in taking Burgoyne, 
seemed to carry great terror with them. 

Captain Olney was now again with the com- 
mander in chief; various manceuvers were prac- 
ticed before they went into winter quarters, to in- 
duce Washington to fight to a disadvantage; being 



232 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

very advantageously posted, they endeavored to 
draw him from his position, at White Marsh, down 
to the plains to fight. He did not avoid them, hut 
waited to receive them in his lines, when they 
retreated, and took up their winter quarters in 
Philadelphia. Washington likewise began to look 
about for accommodations for the winter ; and 
finally selected the Valley Forge, a deep and rug- 
ged hollow on the west side of the Schuylkill, 
about twenty miles from Philadelphia. '' While 
on the banks of the Delaware," says Capt. Oiney, 
*' we drew a ration of salt pork and hard bread, 
and for the first time, I relished such food without 
the process of cooking, and even thought it delic- 
ious. This fare perhaps made us more discon- 
tented at Valley Forge, where for several days 
we had no rations at all, only parts of rations. I 
cannot forget one good supper we had there, 
through the activity of some young men of our 
mess, who went out to buy food, and while knock- 
ing at the door for the man of the house, offering 
to pay for any provision he could spare, the hens 
began to cackle. They heard one say to another, 
' what are those dreadful Hessians about?' Either 
the dread of Hessians, or the thought of selling 
property for our bills of credit, so stupified the 
man, that he did not rise from his bed. The 
chickens, however, came to the camp and made 
a most excellent stew, verifying the old saying, 
^stolen meat is sweet.'" 

The history of the winter at Valley Forge, is 
one of great trials and hardships; and if true in all 
its details, it certainly does reflect disgrace upon 
a large portion of our country ; that the troops 
fighting the battles of freedom should have been 
permitted to suffer to the extent they are said to, 
and yet unrelieved ; that they should have been 
destitute of suitable clothing, of food, of medicine, 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 033 

and nothing" to lie on but the bare ground, through 
the inclement season of winter, in such a country 
as ours, where people now are wild almost to 
look up objects of charity, and multiply benevo- 
lent societies so fast that it is feared the ujultipli- 
cation of paupers will increase in an even propor- 
tion ; that such a people ever could have been 
so hardened, knowing" such suffering existed, where 
it was not generosity, but justice, to relieve, ap- 
pears impossible ; and notwithstanding history 
gives such a lamentable account, for one, we must 
take the liberly to think it exaggerated. That 
their hardships were very great, inasmuch as they 
had not always a sufficiency of such food as they 
craved, and that their lodging was hard and indif- 
ferent, and that there was a want of comfort and 
cleanliness among so many men huddled together 
in those small huts so as to generate disease, we 
fully believe ; but that matters were quite so bad 
as is generally represented, we do not believe. — 
And our reasons are, first, that Captain Olney, 
who is quite candid at all times, in speaking of 
losses, of trials, of sufferings, and defeats, says 
nothirig about it, except in the paragraph we have 
already inserted, that for a few days they were 
supplied with but part of their rations. True, he 
left, on furlough, about the first of January. He 
gives as a reason, that there were a great many 
mouths to feed, and a large proportion of officers 
to the men, and he thought he could be spared as 
well as not. But says nothing of any suffering ; 
nor on his return, of having escaped any hard- 
ships by being absent, which with him, would 
have been perfectly natural. The way in which 
he reviews the campaign of 1777, will be convinc- 
ing to every reader, that his fault did not consist 
in looking to the bright side of the picture. Speak- 
26* 



2M LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY, 

ing of the furlough procured to come home, he 
says : 

" Here ended the campain of 1777, by no means 
very propitious to the American cause, though 
perhaps not more discouraging than at the close 
of 1776. The actions which effected the capture 
of Burgoyne's army and the defeat of the enemy 
at Red Bank, were all the successes on our side 
except the battle of Princeton." [Mistake.] "The 
former was of signal importance, as it revived the 
drooping spirits of the people, and was thought to 
have induced the French nation to become our 
allies. Mr. Dean had been dancing attendance at 
the French court a long time, but could effect no- 
thing, until after the news of this success. The 
grand army of the enemy had obtained all the 
success which their warriors contemplated. They 
had defeated our army at Brandywine, our attack 
at Germantown, and part of our army under Gen. 
Wayne, and accomplished their grand object in 
entering Philadelphia; but all this seemed to avail 
them nothing, so long as Congress had power to 
recommend, and Washington commanded the 
shadow of an army." 

Another circumstance, that first excited doubts 
whether the sufferings of the army at this season 
was not exaggerated, was, a few years since being 
in company with an officer who was quartered 
with the army at Valley Forge through the whole 
winter, and hearing him tell of the balls he at- 
tended in that region, which he stated ' were 
made on purpose for the officers,' and proceeded 
to say that though they had hard fare that win- 
ter, he believed they, both officers and men, on 
the whole, never eujoyd themselves better. Still 
there was a great mortality there from some 
cause. 

Oil several different occasions, it has been the 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 235 

privile§^e of the compiler of this work to fall into 
the society of some of the old soldiers of the Rev- 
olution, who partook of the hardships of this win- 
ter-quarters, and who assured us they enjoyed 
life well during that period, and dwelt with much 
satisfaction upon their advent\ires in robbing poul- 
try yards and pig styes, and when questioned as 
to their hardships, they would reply, that they 
'' had a pretty hard time, but a great deal of fun 
with it.'''' 

The history of that period says, that "in the 
month of February they could not have mustered 
5000 effective fighting men, out of the 17,000 then 
in camp." If this were so, and all owing to the 
want of suitable clothing and lodging, and impro- 
per food, it was certainly a great disgrace. The 
history of that period sets forth in glowing colors 
the besetting sin of the country — the love of mo- 
ney. The mortality of our soldiers, at that period, 
induced by their hardships and privations, (and 
granting there may be some exaggeration, there 
is enough of it true,) we are assured was owing 
to the cupidity of those who had the supplying 
and the sale of provisions and clothing. The mer- 
chants refused to supply them with necessary 
clothing, and the farmer with provisions, on ac- 
count of the depreciation of continental money. 

There were exceptions to these avaricious per- 
sons. Contractors or commissioners who were 
wicked enough to seek to enrich themselves, by 
spunging these poor but brave men who were 
hazarding their lives in defence o{ their property ; 
and even still worse, there were those who did 
not hesitate to carry their produce to the enemy, 
because they paid the best — paid gold ! gold ! 
which has made so many villains; pity it were 
ever dug out the bowels of the harmless earth. 



236 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

An appeal to a man's pocket, excites more sensa- 
tion tJuin any thing else^ Public spirit, patriotism^ 
all fall before it. 



CHAPTER IX. 



It was dnring" the winter of 1777-8, while the 
army were encamped at Valley Forge, that a plot 
was formed against the commander in chief. 
Anonymous letters were written to Congress, and 
to different persons in (he Union, to induce the 
belief that all the disasters of the war, and the 
then state of suffering too, were wholly caused by 
his want of skill. One of these letters was di- 
rected to Henry Laurens, President of Congress, 
and one to Henry Gore, of Virginia. Both trans- 
mitted them to Washington. General Conway, 
an Enghshman by birth, declaimed valiantly and 
openly against him, and General Gates, a brave 
man, but an Englishman by birth, again was sup- 
posed to have had a hand in it, from the circum- 
stance of his keeping silence, when the aim of the 
plotting was evidently to exalt him to the chief 
command. 

As to Washington, he bore the abuse and mis- 
reprentation, which hourly annoyed him in some 
shape or other, v/ith the most perfect equanimity 
of temper and in silence. He mJght have vindi- 
cated himself successfully, and covered himself 
with honors and his enemies with confusion, but 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 237 

the country must have suffered, and to make any 
division in the army would have materially weak- 
ened, if not ruined the cause. 

How much America owes to the prudence, the 
circumspection, and the perfect command of tem- 
per exercised by this one man ! and we may add, 
humility ! 

The manner in which he wrote to Congress, 
on the 27th of January 1778, '' that he had not 
accepted the office he held without distrust of 
himself, but that as far as his abilities permitted, 
he had aimed to do all for the good of his country; 
that his appointment had been unsolicited, and 
that whenever they found one better qualified to 
fill his place, he should resign it and retire, with 
as much pleasure as ever the wearied traveller 
retired to rest," was submissive. AVho could re- 
sist so sweet a reply ? who be insensible to the 
angelic spirit in which it was conceived ? He was 
patient and quiet under all circumstances ; but 
it was not so with his soldiers. With blazing in- 
dignation they heard of the abuse of their beloved 
commander. Conway was obliged to retire, and 
durst not show himself among the soldiers after 
he was exposed, in the part he had acted ; and 
even Samuel Adams, who had rather leaned tow- 
ards the side of the complainants, either because 
he was deceived into a belief of some of it, or be- 
cause he thought it not right (as w^as supposed by 
some) that Virginia should supply us with a com- 
mander in chief, when New-England had produced 
so many able ones, it is believed would not have 
been safe, if he had chanced to show himself to 
the soldiers of Washington, while their resent- 
ment was at its height. Captain Olney too, who 
was now enjoying quiet in the bosom of his fam- 
ily expressed the warmest indignation at the treat- 



238 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

ment of Washington, by his intriguing and design- 
ing enemies. 

The advantages of a meek and quiet spirit, evem 
in this life, are very great. The wise and good 
man of whom we are speaking experienced it in 
an eminent degree. He kept perfectly quiet un- 
der Axe greatest provocations, and providence, in 
its own time, brought about the exposure and the, 
punishment of his enemies ; made his righteous- 
ness clear as the light, and his just dealings as the 
noonday. The soldiers who had served under 
Washington, in the preceding campaign, generally 
testified their zeal by following him again, and 
preparations were making for another tedious 
campaign. A large and well disciplined army from 
England, it was well known was expected over in 
the spring, to reinforce that of General Howe, and 
a fleet to co-operate with it, and as yet it was not 
ascertained that any of the nations of Europe 
would forin a treaty of alliance, or even acknow- 
ledge our independence. In the month of March 
two companies of Americans had been surprized 
at the bridges of Quinton and Hancock, and al- 
though they surrendered and asked for quarter, 
fhey were all barbarously put to tlie sword, and 
murdered on the spot, in cold blood. These things 
in themselves were discouraging. Yet did not our 
fathers of the Revolution shrink ; no, these bar- 
barities were only an additional incitement ; hun- 
dreds who had never ventured before, upon hear- 
ing of these things, rushed to the field of battle ; 
but bravery was all they had ; clothing, arms, 
ammunition and discipline, they were dreadfidly 
deficient in, though in the lattei? respect they were 
now gaining. Baron Steuben, a Prussian oflicer 
of distinguished reputation, who was himself a per- 
fect soldier, and had served under Frederick IL 
had undertaken to teach the soldiers of the Re» 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 2:W 

public, and they were fast improving under Ihm 
instruction. 

That Heaven always helps those who hclii 
themselves, is as true of nations as of individuals , 
a chang-e was at hand. Various rumors, from tiiu<^ 
to time, had reached the country, of assistaiu r, 
and treaties, &c., with France, and a latent h(»[ie 
had always existed that it might be so ; but with 
many, it was a faint one. Yet the energy, the 
perseverance and fortitude of Congress were not 
in the least abated, and could only be exceeded 
by that of the conmiander in chief and his brave 
associates. But, behold, brave men, the reward 
of your constancy is at hand, and even at the door; 
and already the bark that conveys the glad tid- 
ings of political salvation, is on its way. The win- 
ter, memorable for the extreme of yojir sulfei'ings, 
shall be memorable for your triumphs too. While 
you have been enduring the multiplied evils of 
hunger, and cold, and nakedness, for the sake of 
your country, the great Governor of the universe 
has been working out for you a rev/ard exceeding 
all your calculations. 

Every ship that entered port was regarded witii 
scrutinizing interest ; we can imagine the excite- 
ment then, when the noble French frigate La Sen- 
sible entered the bay, having on board the brother 
of Silas Dean, the bearer of despatches to the 
Congress of the United States. All was tumult ; 
Congress was hastily convened, and the bidget 
opened. The treaty of amity and alliance wag 
signed in behalf of the king of France by M. Ge- 
rard, and for the United States, by BenjimiD 
Franklin, Silas Dean, and Arthur Lee. This irea- 
ty (let it never be forgotten,) was obtained oii'y by 
the pledge on the part of the representatives of 
the American States, " Tkat they should nrrer re- 
nounce their independence^ nor submit to liritisli dcmina' 



O40 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

iiow." Bear it in mind, oh, you who are invidiously 
insinuating- sentiments hostile to the liberties, and 
insulting- to the common sense of the country. 

This treaty was no sooner read, than ratified. 
What ages of suffering those patriotic men felt re- 
compensed for in that moment ! The news was 
speedily forwarded by despatch to the army. 

With the greatest solemnity, Washington order- 
ed out all his soldiers under arms, and all the corps 
formed in order of battle, and then announced the 
joyful tidings. What transporting shouts rent the 
air ! What warm, hearty, cordial congratulations 
followed the communication of so joyful an event ! 
It was a day of joyful thanksgiving ; and how did 
those shouts sound in the ears of the enemy? Why, 
the first use they made of the information, was to 
pick up their alls and prepare to fall back on New- 
York, fearful that the first thing they would know, 
would be a French fleet at the mouth of the Dela- 
ware, and lock them in between two fires. 

John Bull, for this time, overshot himself. They 
had been debating in the British Parliament, 
whether it was best to push a war that as yet 
had yielded them but little promise, and how far 
it would do to be lenient to these audacious rebels, 
and how much more punis*hment it would do to 
try upon them, &c., and what it would be best to 
do, before America could make any bargain with 
France. When up gets Mr. Fox, and announces 
the fact that "The treaty was already made." 
This was a dead set; but it only whetted their 
invention, and they laid their heads together, 
forthwith to devise a remedy. Tfiis was to gend 
a most pacific ofter of almost independence to the 
United States. They should have the privilege 
(more than they went to war for,) of electing all 
their ov.'n officers of government, regulating their 
own taxes, and trade, and a great deal more, only 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 241 

acknowledginsr one superior, the Kingr of Encrland; 
whom Ihey were to cotisider as a fatkcr, and who 
was to have a kind of motherly cv.ve over them ; 
and this should be sent by a swift messenger, who 
was to race it tlirough tlie Atlantic Ocean and get 
there first, which being the mistress oi" the seas, 
they had but lo will, and have all signed, sealed 
and ratified, before the deadly Treaty should reach 
them ; commissioned at the same time, in case 
that Neptune, himself, should turn traitor, to alter 
and modify it, to suit the times. One not to be 
forgotten offer, was to pay all our debts, (albeit, 
they could not pay their own.) Meanwhile, the 
French resolving not to do things by halves, se- 
lected one of their f.istest sailing vessels, and best 
commanders, M. D'lMarigny, to bear the despatch- 
es ; and the English straining every nerve, soon 
got here, to be sure. B«it, alas ! the Frenchman 
had got here first ; and Washington, that immov- 
able republican, refused the British conmiissioners 
a passport to the seat of government ; he was not 
a person to argue with; l:e could not be moved to 
a doiibtful action, or one that he thought so. 
Terribly indignant as they must have felt, they 
had to swallow it, and fcjrward their letters by 
post. We w^ill not attempt to paint the tumult in 
Congress, when these letters were read ; the in- 
solence of their language towards France was 
highly resented. They (the British Commission- 
ers) pretended that the offer they now made the 
An»ericans had been decided on some time ago, 
and that France had found out what they were 
about to do, and had hastened to get the start of 
them, " to prevent reconciliation, and prolong tlm 
destructive war.''^ 

The michevalism of this mancever, we believe, 
never could have been exceeded by any court di- 
21 



242 LIFE OF STEPHEN' OLNEY. 

plomacy ever conceived before. Congress, how- 
ever, saw through it, and they gave them just 
such an answer as their duplicity and cruelty mer- 
ited. 



CHAPTER X. 



Immediately after these events, Captain Olney 
returned to camp ; his fuHough had expired ; and 
he found the soldiers in new spirits. The issue of 
the contest was no longer doubtful ; a moral cer- 
tainty now existed that we should eventually se- 
cure our independence, although much was to be 
done. The main army was now about to march 
after and harass the British on their retreat. A 
council of war had just been convened to decide 
whether it was, or was not expedient to attack the 
enemy, and try the fortune of a decisive battle. 
The commander in chief, who had hitherto been 
averse to putting so much at stake at once, was 
now for a pitched battle. But in this he was op- 
posed by some, and particularly by General Lee, 
who had lately returned to the army, having beei^ 
exchanged for Prescott. It is certainly a suspic- 
ious circumstance, that this General, who demean- 
ed himself so strangely at the battle of Monmouth, 
should have opposed attacking the enemy at all. 
But as so many opinions have been formed respect- 
ing the real character of this Gerieral, grounded 
principally upon the singularity of his conduct on 
this day, in which he so highly offended Washing- 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 243 

ton, and for which he was piinished by a court 
martial by being suspended one year, it is a mat- 
ter of* curiosity to hear what an eye witness of the 
transaction thought of it. The Rhode-Island troops 
composed a part of the division commanded by 
General Lee on that memorable day. On the 18th 
of June they were ordered out at ten o'clock, and 
continued on parade, a most irksome situation, as 
Captain Olney observes, until nine at night, w^hen 
they took up the line of march upon the track of 
the enemy. The heat, from this time to the 28th, 
(the battle of Monmouth,) was intense ; and the 
sufferings of the army, exposed to such a burning 
sun, must liave been great. In no place in our 
country, perhaps, is the heat more oppressive than 
in that region ; having no sea breeze, and so much 
swampy, marshy land, there is a peculiarly sti- 
fling, disagreeable sensation from the heat in this 
quarter. Hence travellers complain of the heat 
of Philadelphia more, perhaps, that any other of 
our cities. On the day of ihe battle of Monmouth, 
Captain Olney says, 

" After marching two or three miles we arrived 
o't the plains of Monmouth, having a wood near 
at hand, on our left. It is worthy of renmrk, that 
two brigades had been sent forward as a vanguard, 
by the commander in chief, under Lee and La- 
fayette ; and Lee, as the senior officer, took com- 
mand of the whole vanguard, so that Gen. Lafay- 
ette, had only the militia and light-horse. Gen- 
Knyphausen, of the British, had been sent forward 
with their baggage, and had got some distance 
ahead ; and General Washington had sent round 
a detachment commanded by Colonels Morgan and 
Dickinson, to attack this convoy, encumbered by 
their long train of carraiges and baggage, while 
he ordered General Lee to attack them in front. 
Consequently, the first attack was made upon the 



244 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

rear-guard of the enemy, commandefl by Cornwal- 
lis and Clinton, their coininander in chief. The ra- 
pidity with which Clinton faced about and attack- 
ed the liffht-ijorse of Lafayette, rather astounded 
General Lee, and obh'ged iiini to form his troops 
upon ground rather uniavorable ; having a deep 
ravine behind, which rendered his retreat diflicult, 
to say the least. Captain Ohiey says, 

" The heat of the day was so intense that it re- 
quired the greatest efforts of the officers to keep 
tiieir men in the ranks ; and several of my com- 
pany were so overcome and faint in coming, that 
they said they could go no farther ; but by distri- 
buting about half a pint of brandy, which I hap- 
pened TO have in my canteen, (which the second 
sergeant had jMit there) I made out to get them 
alonix. We had not yet seen the enemy, but 
General Lee came in haste, and ordered Colonel 
Olney to march his regiment and occupy the woods 
in our left. We had scarcely reached the woocss, 
when the front of the regiment wheeled, and com- 
menced a retrograde movenient. At this instant 
the enemy appeared and discharged their artillery. 
The first ball took one of my corporals in his knap- 
sack and back ; some one said '^Corpora! is 

killed." I answered ^' never mind, he has paid the 
last debt." 

We continued our retreat in good order, not fast- 
er than a walk. Our ariillery seemed to be well 
screened and kept the enemy in ciieck. When 
we came to the end of the plain we formed in a 
line front of a morass, and began a fire with unis- 
ketry. The enemy came on with such impetuos- 
ity, that they tiirned our riirht flaidv, which threw 
us into disorder, and we retreated. At this instant 
our main army came up, commanded by Wash- 
ington himself, and commenced a heavy fire with 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 245 

our artillery ; and the British found they had got 
a iresh arii»y to contend with." 

Washington happened to come on at tlie very 
moment that the retreating soldiers of Lee had 
been pushed beyond the ravine, and before he had 
time to rally. At the first sound of the firing, the 
commander in chief hastened forward, and reach- 
ed the ground just at the critical moment when 
the soldiers w^ere about dispersing in their flight. 
It was the first time they had ever seen General 
Washington unable to restrain his resentment. 
Short as the time was, he addressed some very 
harsh words to General Lee, and then applied him- 
self with equal skill and courage to restore the 
fortunes of the day. He ordered two battalions, 
under Colonels Stewart and Ramsay, to occupy a 
post on the left behind a little grove of wood, and 
there to sustain the first efforts of the enemy. — 
General Lee, stung by the reproaches of Washing- 
ton, now exerted himself to rally his troops, and 
get a more advantageous ground. Here, for a 
time, they defended themselves gallantly until 
overpowered by numbers ; they then fell back to 
rally anew, but in the mean time the rear-guard 
had arrived. General Greene and Lord Sterling 
were enabled, on that day, to do great execution 
on the enemy from the advantageous position of 
their artillery. 

The English attempted to turn the left flank of 
the Americans, where they were repulsed by the 
light infantry ; they then directed their efforts 
against the right, which they endeavored to sur- 
round ; in this they were completely foiled by Gen. 
Greene, who charged them so vigorously they 
were obliged to retreat. Washington seeing them 
give way, caused them to be charged regularly by 
General Wayne. The English now retreated be- 
21* 



246 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

hind a ravine, and victory was no longer doubtful. 
Washington liad made an immediate arrangement 
to charge them anew, witli his own brigade and 
the Carolina miliiia, but the niglit came on so last, 
they were obliged to defer it, until morning. But 
behold, in the morning the enemy had decamped, 
and was far out of the way. They started at mid- 
night and so still that they were perfectly unob- 
served by the Americans who were quite near too. 
Clinton in his despatches, wrote home, that ''he 
travelled in the night to avoid the sultriness of 
the day, and that as they liad moonlight," &.c. It 
occasioned much sport at the time, as the moon 
was only then on her fourth day, and set before 
10 o'clock. However, they had gained so many 
hours upon their pursuers, and the heat of the 
weather was so extreme, that the comiuander of 
the American army decided not to follow them, 
as it would not now be possible to get between 
them and New-York ; he therefore allowed his ar- 
my to repose in camp until the first day of July, 
(three days.) 

The battle of Monmouth, like the battle of Bun- 
ker Hill, was fought on one of the hottest days in 
the season. Very few fell on the part of the 
Americans, but a number died from the intense 
heat, joined to the fatigue of the day. The En- 
glish had 300 killed and 300 wounded, and about 
100 taken prisoners, and lost a considerable part 
of their army that day, by desertion, particularly 
among the Hessians. 

Captain Gluey continues, •' Thus ended the 
battle of Monmouth, which was not so sanguinary 
and fatal (according to the numbers engaged) as 
it was distressing on accoimt of the heat. Some 
were of opinion that more men lost their lives on 
account of the extreme heat of that day tlian by 
gunpowder. My own sufferings and distress from 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 247 

the heat on that day, were greater than the fear 
of death from our foes." 

If the heat was greater tliere on the 28tli of 
June, 1778, than it was on the 26lh of June 1838, 
it inub't have been almost unendurable. The vvri- 
ter recollects hearing the inhabitants remark, it 
had not been so warm there since the battle of 
Monmouth. 

'^As General Lee's conduct was so severely 
censured, 1 will take the liberty to make some few 
remarks, although my rank and silu'.ition did not 
permit; me to know the plan of attack. There 
was, I presume, no one who could know with what 
force the enemy would come; or what movements 
he would make, or whether he would not be found 
embarking his best troops. If General Lee had 
peremptory orders to attack the enemy in any 
position, no doubt he was wrong in making a re- 
treat. It seems the enemy made a division with 
their best troops, to check the advance of our 
army, in order to gain time to embark i'or New- 
York. If General Lee conceived the enemy's 
force equal to his, he was justified in his retreat, 
as the main army was not within supporting dis- 
tance, (in the commencement of the contest,) and 
his manner or mode of retreat was well calculated 
to gjin time for the main army to come up. And 
if the main army had been only one lialfhour 
sooner in the field, and advanced by the woods 
and made the attack, on the eneiny's right flank, 
it is probable the British would have paid dear for 
their temerity in pursuing Gen. Lee so C.iv.-' 

General Lee's orders were peremptory, though 
Captain OIney coidd not have known it at that 
tiine. It was the very object for which Gen. Lee 
was sent forward, and at this day there is but one 
opinion on the subject. 

^' in this way the enemy generally managed ; 



248 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

instead of coming up in tlie rear of tlie parties en- 
gnaed, they always (where tiie ground would ad- 
mit,) brought their reinforcenients so as to attack 
our right or left flank. This I consider a fixed 
principle in the manoeuvres of war, and the means 
by which nearly all victories are gained." 

'-'- Perhaps it was a great mistake that our troops 
were so late in the field ; Ijut little matters often 
defeat the best concerted plan." 

Here ends the account of the battle of Mon- 
mouth, where 300 of the enemy were left dead 
upon the field. The bold and haughty English- 
man, the sturdy Dutchman, and the grim Hessian, 
lie side by side, weltering in their blood. Ene- 
mies, indeed, they were, but who knows they are 
dead ? Who has been to see if life is extinct ? 
Who, realizing that they are human beings, has 
wandered forth over the crimsoned field, to see 
whether life has yet fled ? To see whether the 
vital spark has so far gone that it cannot be re- 
called ? To receive the last sigh, to aid the pray- 
ers of the expiring sinner, and to convey a drop 
of cold water to their parched lips .'' Alas ! Alas I 
Not a word is said on the subject.- It seems that 
this is no part of a soldier's duty. Many of our 
own men, and many more of the enemy, were left 
for dead, and reviving, crept from the field to the 
nearest house, where they recovered of their 
wounds. 

Capt. Olney must have credit for being unique 
in his remarks. We believe he is the first person 
who has attempted an apology for Gen. Lee, for 
that day's mistake, and he absolutely, as the say- 
ing is, '' puts the boot on the other leg.^' 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 249 



CHAPTER XI. 

Two flays after the battle of Monmouth, the 
British army destined to reinforce General Clin- 
ton, arrived off Sandy Hook. The timely arrival 
of the fleet, which conveyed it, enabled the Brit- 
ish to cross over and get to New-York ; and on 
the night of the 8th of July, the French fleet com- 
manded by the Count D'Estaing, gained the mouth 
of the Delaware, and found to tlieir great mortifi- 
cation and disappointment, the British had retreat- 
ed to New- York. Nothingcoidd have saved them 
had the arrival of the French fleet been a few days 
sooner. D'Estaing proceeded to Sandy Hook ; 
here be was supplied with pilots from Congress, 
and they advised liim that it was impossible with 
his large ships to go up to the city. Since then a 
channel has been discovered by Lieut. Geddes, 
sent to survey the harbor. The city of New-York 
has presented him with a medal ; and the Prince 
de Joinville, in June last, when here with the 
Hercules and his squadron, was ignorant of this 
discovery, or the fete held at Newport would have 
been at New-York. D Estaing withdrew about 
four miles down, and concerted Vv^ith the American 
Oenerals about the expedition to Rhode-Island. 
"While lying off Sandy IJook, several English ves- 
sels bound to New-York, with warlike stores and 
provisions, fell into his hands, in sight of the Brit- 
ish squadron, whose indignation was vehement, 
but they had no way to help themselves. It was 
at length decided that he should conje to New- 
port, and the Rhode Island regiment was ordered 
round by land to co-operate with the fleet. D Es- 



250 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

taing g-ave them one fright at New-York before he 
sailed for Rhode-Island. He drew his fleet up as 
far as was judged safe by the pilots, and paraded 
them in sight of the city. The English put them- 
selves to a great deal of trouble to defend them- 
selves as well as they could, when after consider- 
able manoeuvering, he turned off and steered for 
Rhode-Island. It was a subject of great lamen- 
tation with the Americans, that he had not at- 
tempted the passage, hazardous as it was then 
judged to be, or at least stayed a few days longer 
at Sandy Hook, as he would inevitably have cap- 
tured four large ships of Lord Byron's squadron, 
which dispersed and scattered in a storm, and 
then arrived successively at Sandy Hook. 

As to General Washington, he had immediately 
after the battle of Monmouth, marched the prin- 
cipal part of his army towards Hudson, in order to 
secure the passages of the mountains. He left 
6on)e detachments of light troops, and particularly 
Morgan's dragoons, in the lower part of New- Jer- 
sey, to take up deserters, and repress the incur- 
sions of the enemy. But when, after the arrival 
of the French fleet, a detachment was sent to 
Rhode-Island. Captain Olney was again separat- 
ed from the army of Washington, and constrained 
to go and assist to drive out the enemy from his 
native State. They were accompanied by the 
Marquis Lafayette, and had the Count D'Estaing 
been of his spirit, the object would have been ac- 
complished. It was during this journey, that a 
degree of intimacy was formed between the gal- 
lant Marquis and his humble companion in arms, 
Captain Olney. There is a sympathy between 
the brave, that like masonry^ is at once recognised, 
and its claim allowed. He was not unknown or 
unnoticed by General Lafayette before this, but 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 051 

circumstances brought them more together after 
the battle ot^ Monmouth. 

The expedition of Sulhvan to Rhode-Island — a 
thing which excited so much interest at the lime, 
and ended in — nothing — is familiar to most of our 
readers ; we shall, therefore, pass it over as Capt. 
Olney does, with a few words. "The attempt to 
dislodge the British at Newport, was abandoned 
even after Sullivan had landed on the island, and 
was within a few hours' march of the town of 
Newport, on account of the refusal of the Count 
D'Estaing to co-operate with him. It is believed 
by many, that the Count, who went to the rescue 
of Newport, felt himself insulted because Sullivan 
dared to get there first ; that he meant to have 
taken the town of Newport, which he could have 
done with ease, and made the whole garrison sur- 
render to him ; or in case of their flight, Sullivan 
would have stopped their egress from the other 
side of the island." But Sullivan, whose down- 
right good sense never dreamed of such chivalry. 
Poor man, he thought he could not do too much ; 
and that he was exceedingly obliging to be there 
already on the ground, and to strike the first blow. 
The Captain does not speak in very patient terms 
of the departure of the fleet in such an inopportune 
moment, against, as he says, the urgent solicita- 
tions of General Lafayette, and all the American 
Generals. The aged inhabitants, who were then 
on Rhode-Island, think D'Estaing fully justified, 
as he waited for the forces of Sullivan nine days 
before they came. But he assigns no reason for 
the French fleet going to Boston ; and merely ob- 
serves, that he took winter quarters at Warren that 
year, and that the Rhode-Island regiment was en- 
camped on Barber's heights, and that it was not 
until towards December, 1779, that they marched 
back again to New-Jersey and encamped near Mor- 



252 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

ristown, where they were irnmedintcly set to build 
huts, to make themselves comlbrtable in winter 
quarters. 

Except in intercepting" the British, in their for- 
ag'mg excursions, it is probable tiiat Capt. Olney 
was not engaged in any active service during the 
winter. Other States had their occasional tu- 
mults, and were as often the seat of war, but 
New-Jersey was the constant seat of both. They 
lived in perpetual fear. The harassed inhabitants 
were no sooner set down in one part for a breath- 
ing" spell, than tunnilts, pillaging, and murders, 
commenced in another ; and of all the States they 
were the most to be commisserated, and by odds, 
the greatest sufferers. 

''On the 23d of January," says Captain Olney, 
*' the army advanced in a large party to a place 
called the Connecticut Partus, (a place about mid- 
way belween Sjiringfield and Elizabethtown,) 
our regiment was ordered to defend the bridge at 
Springfield ; in all the various sitiiations I had 
been placed in, before an expected engagement, I 
never had so much difficulty to reconcile my mind 
to the fate contemplated." 

''• There was a road some twenty or thirty rods 
parallel in our rear, where I expected the enemy 
would advance a party as soon as they should 
think proper to attick in front. Agreeably to their 
conmion mode of fighting, I expected soon to have 
an eneujy in the re jr, as well as a powerful one in 
front. The afflit tion of njy mind was such, though 
reconciled to my destiny, and able to act the part 
of a good soldier, that I felt inclined to sleep, even 
under the fire of our field-pieces, which had began 
to play with alacrity." The effect of fear, as a 
sed litve, has been often mentioned ; we recollect 
some years since, of being much afraid on the wa- 
ter, during a thunder-stornij and the great difficul- 



LIFE OF STEPHEiN OLNEY. 053 

ty of keeping awake while the excitement was 
on." 

" At length, throiiirh hope and confidence in the 
Supreme Riilcr of the Universe and Disposer of 
events, I felt resiixned to whatever miirlu fall to 
my lot ; and when tlie enemy's flank guard of rifle- 
men (yngons,) advanced on our left, I asked Col. 
Jeremiah OIney to let me take my platoon and 
engage them. This met his earnest approbation ; 
I marched a few rods into an orchard of large 
trees, and thought it prudent to place several men 
behind each tree, believing they would fire more 
accurate and be less exposed ; at the same time 
moving about from one to the other myself, direct- 
ing them to take good aim, particularly at the 
commanding oflicer of the British, who was con- 
siderably adv^anced in front, on their right. It 
seemed no ball would stop his speed ; he came on 
firing regularly, and the wind of their balls would 
at times shake the hair of my head. Perhaps my 
hair was rather erect and sensitive. I had not 
ifired more than five or six times before I observed 
the right of the regiment on the retreat, and the 
enemy's flank boldly advancing to within twenty 
yards, notwithstanding my fire. I ordered my 
men to take possession of a small hill covered with 
wood. The enemy's sharp shooters now advanced 
rapidly, and one of their rifle balls passed through 
my left arm. I bound up the wound with my 
handkerchief, and then thought best to retreat. 
We had not passed the road more than five or six 
rods when I discovered a fresh colunm of the en- 
emy advancing to attack us in the rear. As 1 had 
contemplated, I let them go by without any com- 
pliments, and joined the regiment which had been 
paraded some little time since its retreat. 

Thus much of the battle of Springfield. I be» 



254 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Jieve no troops were engai^ed but the Rhorle-Ts- 
land regiirient, which did not muster on that day- 
more thnFi 160 rank and file, 40 of wiiorji were 
killed and wounded. As to the enemy, they were 
sorely satisfied^ and burning" a i'ew houses, returned 
to winter quarters. After my wound was dressed 
by Dr. Tenny, I left the regiment in quest of some 
place of repose. At the first house, abotit three 
quarters of a mile, 1 was overcome with faintness 
and obliged to tarry a little while. Being recov- 
ered, I proceeded to houses where they appeared 
to be wealthy, and entreated quarters (for pay) 
a few days without effect. At last I came to a 
poor looking house. The owner was a weaver by 
trade, who cheerfully took me in and treated me 
with kindness. Those people, thought 1, who feel 
adversity, have the most sympathy for others in 
distress. In a few days I went to the hospital at 
Bearskin ridge, where I staid eight or ten weeks. 
The ball took its course so near the bone, that it 
was a long time before my arm proved well." 

During all this titne, matters of moment were 
going on in the United States which we must cur- 
sorily glance at, in order to make our narrative 
understood. The commissioners sent over froni 
England, from the most soothing, pacific, hypocrit- 
ical offers, treated with merited contempt, descend- 
ed to bribery ; officers of the government and of | 
the army were tampered with, and offices and re- 
wards in abundance held out, to induce them to 
lend their influence to betray their country. Gen. 
Read particularly was solicited even by a lady, 
who sought him on the part of Johnston, (one and 
the principal of the commisioners, and a tory re- 
fueree,) and wanted to engage him in a plot to re- 
unite the two countries, promising in case of suc- 
cess, "a reward of ten thousand pounds sterling, 
and any office in the Colonies in the king's gif't.'^ 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 255 

General Read replied, " (hat lie was not worth 
pnrcli.isiiig ; but such as he was, the kincr of Great- 
Britaisi was not rich enoiic^h to do it." Congress, 
to whom til is was communicated, were very in- 
dignant, and refused to negotiate with him after- 
wards. The three other commissioners issued a 
counter declaration, and denied all knowledge of 
such transactions. They had the impudence, how- 
ever, to issue proclamations and speeches (and by 
means of the tories, they were spread throughout 
the country,) the most artfully contrived, to cre- 
ate dissatisfaction among the people against Con- 
gress, and disgust towards the French ; and after 
the departure of D'Estaing they made that a sub- 
ject of ri(lic\ile and accusation. So exceedingly 
insolent and personal were they at length, that 
the Marquis Lafayette challenged the Earl of Car- 
lisle, one of them, to fight [iim in single combat, 
which that nobleman very dexterously refused, 
shift i:ig his responsibility upon his office. 

Irritated by the steady contempt of Congress, 
and having no encouragement, by making even a 
single convert, the commissioners issued a procla- 
mation wherein they threw off the mask and gave 
vent to the deqply rancorous and revengeful feel- 
ings that agitated them. They threatened to burn, 
ravage and destroy, until the country should be 
glad to submit ; and that they would no longer try 
to repress their soldiery ; would, in addition, let 
loose the savages, and that all our exposed towns 
and villnges should be sacked with such remorse- 
less vengeance, as was never heard of before ; 
*' that the vast continent of America was peculiar- 
ly open to incursions and ravages ; that its coasts 
were of such an extent they could not be guard- 
ed against an enemy that was master of the sea, 
and that it would be easy to penetrate to most of 



256 LIFE OF STEPHExV OLNEY. 

the towns and settlements, and spread destrue- 
tion into every province of the continent." 

Our liniits will not permit us to give the whole 
of this brimstone proclamation, in which, howev- 
er, boasting's of favors conferred, of past good in- 
tentions and present good wishes for this country, 
were strangely mingled in grotesque combination 
with threats which would disgrace Turks and Rus- 
sians. But, as they threatened to do no more than 
what they had already done, and what was al- 
ways expected of them whenever they got the 
power, noboby was scared ; and with a great part 
of the people it was rather a subject of merriment 
and standing jest, than otherwise ; and it is cer- 
tain their insimiations against the French, had 
only a tendency to unite the two nations more 
strictly than before. 

The indignation of Congress, however, was 
great, and they issued a proclamation, recommend- 
ing, '•'' that whenever the enenjy proceeded to burn 
any town, the people should in like manner, pro- 
ceed to burn, ravage, and destroy the houses and 
property of all tories and enemies to the indepen- 
dence of the country." This was, in reality the 
best and surest way of putting a preventive in the 
way, as their own interest must keep thens irom 
sacrificing their few friends in the country. They 
added in the proclamation of Congress, however, 
that the persons of such tories should be safe, ''as 
the Americans would scorn to imitate their adver- 
saries, or the allies they had subsidized^ whelJier Ger- 
mans^ blacks^ or savages.''^ The concluding paragraph 
was one of the most sublime appeals wc ever re- 
member to have read, but we have not room for 
its insertion. 

The commissioners depnrted for Europe ; and 
Congress beirig now convened at Philadeipliia, re- 
ceived the first iMinister ever sent to the country, 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 257 

M.Gerard, Minister Plenipotentiary of the King 
of France, who delivered his letters of credence 
signed by Louis XVI. and directed to his " very 
dear friends and allies, the President and members 
of the General Congress of the United States of 
America." M. Gerard made a very handsome and 
appropriate speech, and was as handsomely an- 
swered by the President of Congress, Henry Lau- 
rens. The authorities of Pennsylvania, strangers 
of note, officers of the army, &c. were present, and 
many were the rejoicings on that occasion. 



CHAPTER XII. 

We pass by now the events of a year, one of the 
most interesting in the annals of the revolution ; 
events we should delight to dwell on, but Captain 
Oiney, the hero of our story, was not there. The 
weakness which succeeded the healing of his 
wounds, confined him from the army for some time, 
and after that he was stationed in New-Jersey and 
the state of New- York, at important and exposed 
points, but not again in a battle, until the year 
1781. The brilliant successes of the French on 
the high seas, the success of our own fittle navy 
too, was often the subject of conversation and cor- 
dial rejoicing in the American camp, while the ar- 
dor of republicanism was kept alive by the contin- 
ual cruelties of their despotic antagonist. The 
slaughter of the villas^e of Wyoming, one of the 
22* 



258 LTFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

most unparalleled instances of barbarity ever 
heard of on the civilized earth, was perpetrated 
during' this year. The French stood appalled, no- 
thing- they had ever known of warfare among civ- 
ilized nations, had ever equalled it, and conjointly 
with the Atnericans, they thirsted for an opportu- 
nity of avenging it. The cruelties exercised by (he 
merciless savages at that period, procured almost 
the extermination of their tribes afterwards. 
What Clark and Butter had done before, was fol- 
lowed up by Sullivan, whose name carried such 
terror among these tribes as completely to para- 
lize them. 

Charleston had been taken, the battle of Cam- 
den which reflected so much glory upon the Amer- 
ican arms had been fought, and war in all iis hor- 
rors had been raging in South and North-Carolina, 
and on the borders of Virginia, and even the battle 
of Guilford Court-House, which was not until 
March 1781, had been fought before Capt. Olney 
was statioFied at a place called Brown Brook, in 
New-Jersey. '■'• Nothing material happened," he 
says, "while I was there except the desertion of our 
General, Arnold, and the execution of Major Andre 
as a spy. Perhaps there never was an execution 
in presence of our army, that occasioned so nuich 
sympathy. To see a man in the flower of his 
years and morning of life, engaged in the pursuit 
of worldly honors, and in full health, aboiU to end 
his life on a gibbet (a mode of death abhorent lo 
bis feelings,) was too aftecting for many to behold 
without a tear of sorrow. He was of a vuddy 
complexion, dark hair and eyes, and in manner 
and address pleasing. He wished earnestly and 
requested to be shot, but it could not be granted, 
for our laws for the crime were obliged to be ex- 
ecuted, and the like punishment had been inflict- 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 25f) 

^d by the British, on our men, without compas- 
sion." 

'' Such was the firmness of Washington, and his 
deterniination that the law should be executed, 
that he ordered the court martial to consist of gen- 
eral officers, tearing- those of a lower grade, nu'ght 
be swerved from their duty, by Icelings of com- 
passion, lor the engaging and unlbrtunate pris- 
oner." 

*'Jn January, 1781, our regiment crossed the 
North River and^uilt our huts for winter-quar- 
ters in the State of New-Yorli, and called the place 
Rhode-Island Village. At this place, tiie two 
Rhode-Island regiments were consolidated into 
one, under the conunand of Colonel Christopher 
Greene, Lieut. Colonel Jeremiah Olney, and Ma- 
jor Flagg, field officers. The latter was on guard 
at Croton Bridge, and Colonel Greene thought it 
his duty to visit the guard, and conveiu'ent, to 
stay nearly all niij^ht. About break of day a party 
of British light-horse surrounded their quarters, 
killed Major Flagg in his room, or bed. Colonel 
Greene discharged his pistols at them, when they 
inflicted several sabre wounds on him ; and then 
mounting him behind one of their horsemen, bore 
him off — and when at some little distance, he ex- 
pired. This was the account as 1 heard it. By 
this sad atfur, Rhode-Island lost one of her firm- 
est patriots and most valiant soldiers. Major 
Flagg, too, who belonged to Newport, was con- 
sidered a most meritorious officer." 

'^ Some time in February," says Captain Olney, 
*' I was detached with a liiiht infnitry compar»y, 
under the conunand of General Lafayette. We 
marched for Virginia ; but when we had reached 
Annapolis, the Marquis hafi orders to rettuMi, and 
join the main army near New-York. At my re- 
quest, he gave me a furlough, supposing the ene- 



200 LIFE OF STEPFiEN OLNEY. 

my had quit Virginia. When he had returned to 
the head of Elk river, he received counter orders, 
and proceeded to Virginia, where it seemed the 
enemy were marauding with little or no o])posi- 
tion." 

Capt. Olney, meanwhile, was on his way home, 
wliere his presence was much needed. He liad a 
young family to see to, and various duties of a do- 
mestic nature called him to his I'arm. He was now 
the father of two children. His seconrl cliild, Jo- 
seph Olney, was horn in H'iO, ^and his wife had 
now ihe care of two young chilaren. Yet the call 
of duty to his country was always the primary 
one with him ; and the following July he again 
retraced his weary journey to join his company. 
They were now in Yorktown, in Virgiida, and 
hither he followed, and arrived in time to he a par- 
taker in the crowning glory of the American arms 
—the capture of Cornwallis. 

It is worthy of renuirk, that during all the con- 
tests and disasters, the disnifection and uuitiny 
which had signalized the last few uionths, the con- 
fidence of Captain Olney had not dinunished, in 
the le ist. It is known to all famili.ir with our 
revolutionary history, that another season of dis- 
couragement and danger, had intervened more 
menacing than any tliat went hefore it. The 
capture of Charleston, the successes of the British 
in the south, generally, and the unfortunate ter- 
iiunation of the atteinpt upon the coasts of South 
Carolina hy D'E&taing, was not all ; the want of 
money to pay the soldiers their arrearages, and 
the want of ahuost exevy necessary in camp, had 
comhined to cause a sj)irit of discontent, and at 
length, one of mutiny. The succors so long ex- 
pected from France, had been but partially be- 
stowed, and it was constantly suggested by the 
tories, (who seemed to have insinuated themselves 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 261 

every where,) that that power was only intent to 
aergrandizc themselves by conquests in tlic VVest- 
Indies, while America was left to fight it out by 
themselves ; and finally, a nieetinc!' was crot up 
among the soldiers, and some 1600 marched to 
Philadelphia to demand redress of Congress. It 
is worthy of remark, though it seems to have been 
overlooked by hif^torians, and only casually men- 
tioned, that this meeting was in part, got up, and 
certainly commanded by a deserter from the Brit- 
ish army, one Williams by name ; he was so far a 
ringleader that the soldiers who had not a single 
officer with them, unhesitatingly put themselves 
under his command. 

It will be recollected, two mighty tumults had 
been created in the States before, by soldiers 
whose ringleaders were deserters from the British 
camp, one at Boston, the other at Charleston, 
where the French and Americans actually joined 
in battle, and several were killed. AVith the great- 
est difficulty this ferment had been allayed by the 
mutual endeavors of the Generals and other offi- 
cers of the tv/o allies. 

The British General too, at New-York (Clinton) 
was apprized of every thing appertaining to the 
insurrection, almost before it took place, and im- 
mediately sent three of their loyal friends fo condole 
with the mutineers and offer them every remuneration 
for their sufferings and privations, upon the single 
condition of their abandoning the American ser- 
vice, and throwing themselves into the arms of his 
Majesty's friends at New-York. "They did not 
wish them to take up arms against their country- 
men, by any means ; they would excuse them 
from enlisting in his Majesty 's service ; they mere- 
ly wished to befriend them and relieve their ne- 
cessities, and for this purpose gave them a very 
polite invitation to New- York, where they pro- 



262 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

mised to pay them all the arrearages due them, by 
the American Congress, and supply amply all tJieir 
necessities." The cunning Yankees, for pome of 
them were Yankees, as politely, and doubtless as 
sincerely, snid, "they would think of it," and ia 
the meantime compelled the three worthies, much 
against their will, who brought the message, to 
stay and partake of the hospitalities of their camp. 
A deputation met them on the road, who inqtiired 
their demands ; and upon being informed, they 
were so far complied with as to give satisfaction. 
A free pardon being bestowed on them for their 
insubordination, they turned back to their quarters, 
carrying in their company the three commission- 
ers, and delivered them up to their oflicers. They 
were immediately hanged without any ceremony. 
Washington never left his place, nor went a 
step after the mutineers, but wlien from the ex- 
ample of their coming off so well, a company of 
his own undertook the same measures shortly af- 
ter, he punished them with exemplary chastise- 
ment, and put a stop to all fiu'ther mutinies. Even 
while this very discontent was at its height the gen- 
erous head of the French nation, stimulated as he 
was, by the enthusiastic suggestions of all the 
people, was sending them ample supplies of money, 
provisions, and warlike stores, together with a 
powerful lleet, and an augmentation of the army. 
And the finances of the country were fast becom- 
ing regidated and in»proved, and a new order of 
things introduced into the financial department, 
calculated to remedy the heavy evils of their late 
chunsy and inadequate system. The genius of 
one financier was successfully exerting itself to 
reniedy the errors, which administrators to whom 
such business was new, had almost invariably 
fallen into — a proof among many thousand, that 
it is always darkest before day, and that we are 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 0(53 

almost sure to be most disconraGred when relief is 
at hand. As to the individuals in question, it is 
still the opinion of many that the country is near- 
ly as much indebted to the financial operations of 
that period, as to the negotiations of Benjarniu 
Franklin, or even to tlie arms of George Wash- 
JnLTton. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Before Capt. Olney reached his camp, events 
had gradually tran8[)ired which had much chang- 
ed the aspect of things, and this brave man who 
had never desponded in the worst of times, yet 
now felt with the rest his hopes and courage re- 
vive. The operations of Sumpter and JVJarion, in 
the south, had been productive of extensive good, 
although no very signal victory had been obtain- 
ed. The enemy had been kegt in check, their 
frequent marauding and foraging excursions ren- 
dered extremely hazardous and difficult, and their 
cruelties restrained. In the swamps and morasses 
of North and South Carolina and V'irginia, the re- 
publicans held undisputed sway, and in many of 
tliese rallying points were formed, known only to 
the iriends of freedom, unless it was now and then 
to some treacherotis tory, who occasionally vol- 
unteered to lead the enemy to the slaughter of 
their countrymen, but this was rare. The bog's 
were intricate and dangerous of themselves, and 



264 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

the British had a terrible fear of falling into am- 
buscades in those g'oomy wildernesses. 

In all the towns and villages there were friends 
to give warning of premeditated attacks, and it 
was very rare that these haunts were disturbed 
except when the republicans were ajjprized and 
ready to receive theni. Enabled thus by bravery 
and stratagem to hold out, and their numbers aug- 
menting steadily, they were at length relieved by 
the approach of Gen. Greene and his forces, which 
they hastened to reinforce. Even the tories in all 
that region, for the greater part, had become dis- 
gusted with the barbarous proceedings of the Brit- 
ish in Charleston. Their flagrant violation of 
promises and treaties had incensed the inhabitants 
greatly. It may be recollected that the enemy 
stipulated with the iidiabitants, upon the reduc- 
tion of the city, not to compel them to take up 
arms against their countrymen, if they would then 
lay them down, and deport themselves as peacea- 
ble citizens of his iMajesty's government, and that 
they falsified their proniises and violated their en- 
gagements, compelling them afterwards to take 
up arms in their cause, and hanging them if they 
deserted from such a forced and abhorent service. 
The execution of Colonel Hayne, in a particular 
manner, had greatly exasperated the inhabitants 
of Charleston, ?^undredsof loyalists were among 
those who urgently besought the barbarous and 
blood-thirsty Rawdon for his pardon ; he refused 
it, and the consequences to himself would have 
been dreadful, had he not almost immediately at'ter 
taken himself off ro England. The officers in Gen. 
Greene's regiment besought him to retaliate, and 
take exemplary vengeance, but he refused. 

With the marchings and counter-marchings of 
the Americans in the south, of the plot of Wash- 
ington to take Arnold, the traitor, off the coast of 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 265 

Virginia, and of his narrow escape from the army 
of Washington and Lafayette, and from the French 
fleet off Cape Henry, our readers are familiar, and 
doubtless recollect the anecdote of the flag*, which 
on some occasion was sent to his head-quarters 
soon after ; when he asked the person who bore 
it, who chanced to be a Quaker, what the Republi- 
cans would have done with him, if they had caught 
him. The messenger, with the blunt plainness of 
his profession, replied, "Buried thy legs, which 
were scarred in our service, with every mark of 
honor, and the rest part of thy body we should 
have hung." 

The Quakers occasionally figured in the war of 
the revolution. General Greene was one by pro- 
fession, before the breaking out of the war. And 
in Philadelphia, where the astonishing fact is re- 
corded, that the Quakers were among the most 
virulent of the loyalists, there were still excep- 
tions ; a company in the early part of the war, was 
formed in that city, composed wholly of young 
men of that Society, who fought in defence of 
liberty. 

To give some brief account of the situation of 
the American army, and of the enemy, upon the 
arrival of Captain OIney, as also of a few of the 
preceding events, is necessary here, to .make his 
story understood, without the trouble of a refer- 
ence to the pages of history. 

After the departure of Lord Rawdon, for Eng- 
land, the command of his regiments devolved up- 
on Colonel Stewart, who commanded at the battle 
of Eutaw Springs, in which the Americans, al- 
though victorious, lost, in killed, wounded and 
missing, 600 men ; while the loss of the enemy, 
probably doubled that number, besides 500 of their 
men taken prisoners. For this, General Greene 
23 



2(56 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

had been publicly thanked by Congress, and pre- 
sented with a conquered standard and a medal of 
gold ; and well did he deserve the gratitude of the 
people when he went to release General Gates in 
the command of the Southern army ; lie had found 
them in a most calamitous. situation, but by his 
talents, courage and address, he had soon raised 
them from a sltate of despondency, and compelled 
his adversaries to flee before him, behind the walls 
of Charleston. 

Cornwallis, who had been ravaging Virginia, 
assisted by that fiend, Benedict Arnold, burning, 
plundering, hanging and destroying, as they went, 
was now approaching; and General Phillips had 
been very near taking the city of Richniond, which 
was saved only by the timely arrival of Lafayette, 
who had, however, the mortification to witness 
the conflagration of Manchester, a town opposite, 
on the right bank of the James River, which the 
English burnt without the least necessity, or even 
pretext. 

After a march of 300 miles, through diflicultiee 
of every sort, Lord Cornwallis had arrived at Pe- 
tersburirh, where he efl'ected a junction with Phil- 
lips, and took coumiand of the whole British army 
in that region ; here, afier staying a few days and 
being reinforced by some hundred soldiers sent 
him from New-York by Clinton, he decided to cross 
tlie river James and penetrate into Virginia. The 
Baron Steuben, with a part of the Atnerican forces, 
then occupied the upper parts of the Province, the 
Marquis Lafayette the maritime districts, and 
General Wayne who was on the march hither 
with the regular troops of Pennsylvania, was yet at 
a great distance. It was while in this station that 
Tarleton conunitted those dreadful excesses in 
Virginia, which helped stamp his name with indel- 
lible iniamy. It was here too, that the expeditiou 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 2G7 

against Charlotteville was planned, principally to 
bring off the person of Thomas Jefferson, who of 
all the patriots of the revohition had rendered him- 
self one of the most obnoxious ; his efforts in the 
cause of liberty had been untiring, althotigh he 
never took the field as a soldier ; yet he had wield- 
ed the pen witb no small success. He had the 
good fortune to be apprised of their approach ; 
and with the assistance of his neighbors, secreted 
a very large quantity of arms and ammunition, 
and then put himself out of their reach. 

It would be tedious and ujuiecessary to describe 
the various manoeuvers practiced by the two Gen- 
erals ; Cornwailis on the one hand and the Mar- 
quis Laf\iyette on the other, previous to the for- 
mer taking his station at York, where he, it seems, 
awaited his fiite. Suffice it to say, the army of 
J.afayette had now become reinforced by the ar- 
rival of General Wayne, and they had harassed 
the enemy exceedingly in their attempt to get to 
Portsmouth to embark a portion of their men for 
Mew-York ; which Clinton, thrown into a panic, 
by rumors of the approach of a French fleet bring- 
ing a reinforcement of troops, had ordered back to 
New- York. 

After having, with infinite labor, attained the 
object of reaching Portsmouth, and embarking the 
troops required, (the Americans hanging on their 
rear, and having had several severe skirmishes 
with tiiem,) counter orders arrived to retain them 
all, and fix upon a secure position for an intrenched 
camp, from which they could have a retreat in 
case of necessity, suggesting at the same time, 
Old Point Comfort as a suitable place. Upon ex- 
amination, Cornwailis decided it would not an- 
swer the purpose, and finally fixed upon Yorktown, 
where, as ''the Hunters of Kentucky" have it, he 
was completely "/reerf." The reasons which in- 



^}SS LIJ'E OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

duced General Clinton to change his mind, was 
the arrival of a reinforcement from Europe of 300 
Hessians. 

Lafayette, from the moment that the enemy 
had entrenched themselves at York, was intent 
upon keeping him there, until the French fleet 
could arrive at the mouth of the Chesapeake. 
Washington, in the mean time, had gone back 
north, in order to hold a conference and arrange 
measures with the French at Newport. At 
Weathersfield in Connecticut, he had an interview 
with Rochambeau ; Count D'Barras, who com- 
manded the French squadron off Newport, was to 
have been present, but his other duties prevented; 
however, the business was arranged, and the ar- 
rival of the Count D'Grasse was to be the signal 
for commencing the siege of New- York ; the re- 
duction of that city being deemed the most impor- 
tant. The difficulties, however, of that fatal sand- 
bar, and the little time that the French fleet could 
stay on the coast, determined Washington to 
change the scene of action, and substitute the 
siege of Yorktown. 

The British in New- York, having got a clue to 
the late intentions of the allies, it was manags'd to 
keep them in the persuasion of an attack meditat- 
ed on New-York, to prevent them sending succors 
to Cornvvallis. To this end, Washington wrote 
letters to Congress, and to the southern com- 
manders, apprizing them of their intention to be- 
siege New-York, and sent them by such ways as 
he knew would be intercepted by the enemy. 
The stratagem succeeded, and Clinton was de- 
ceived. In the mean time the Count D'Rocham- 
beau marched with 5000 French to the borders of 
the Hudson. Washington marched on and effect- 
ed a junction with him from the opposite side. 
They then marched to King's bridge, and took up 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. ^69 

their quarters there, and continued to insult the 
British outposts for some days ; and to render ap- 
pearances more sure, they took plans of the works 
at New-York, under the very fire of their batte- 
ries. They then caused a report that the Count 
D'Grasse was daily expected at the Hook, and 
marched down a force to Sandy Hook and the 
Jersey coast, with the apparent view of seconding 
him, and even carried the deception so far as to 
establish a bakery near the mouth of the Raritan, 
just within the Hook. Washington then, himself: 
with the main body of the army, hearing- of the 
actual arrival of the fleet upon the coast, crossed 
the Croton river and the Hudson, and proceeded 
by forced marches through New-Jersey to Tren- 
ton, on the Delaware, giving out '' that he was 
going out into an open country in order to tempt 
Clinton to follow him to a place where he could 
fight him with superior forces.-' Clinton, again 
deceived, kept still. Washington marched on 
with extreme speed to the head of Elk river, 
across Pennsylvania, iind appeared suddenly upon 
the northern extremity of the Chesapeake bay. 
«^n hour after, so admirably had the operations been 
concerted, and so providential had every thing fa- 
vored their plans, the Count D'Grasse entered the 
Chesapeake bay. This was on the 2Sth of Au- 
gust, 1781. The Marquis Lafayette had establish- 
ed his head-quarters at Williamsburgh. Captain 
Olney was there, and had, as he states, "joined 
them in July." Nor did they live an idle life dur- 
ing that month — constantly watching the enemy, 
looking out for the fleet, erecting fortifications, in- 
tercepting communications, and so on. It may be 
doubted whether there ever was a season during 
the war of Independence, of such excitement, and 
such watchful nnd intense interest with Lafay- 
23* 



270 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

ette, as the month preceding the arrival of the 
French fleet, and the army of Washington. What 
feelings of exalting joy, of unbounded rapture, he 
must have felt to find they had both arrived at 
once ! 

We must now attempt to give our readers an 
idea of the situation of the Royal Army, and this 
not in the language of the historian, which would 
not be understood by the generality of readers, 
but in the good old fashioned way of " «5 thou 
goest^^^ which v/e humbly conceive to be the most 
simple and comprehensive mode of description to 
persons of moderate capacities, /i/ce ourselves, of any 
ever attempted. First then, after entering Ches- 
apeake Bay, from the Atlantic Ocean, you find 
yourself opposite Point Comfort, the place recom- 
mended by Clinton, for the entrenchment of the 
British army in the south, a point of land sur- 
rounded on three sides by the waters of the Ches- 
apeake bay. To the left of this point, as you ap- 
proach it, James river empties into the bay, leav- 
ing these to the left. Passing two other points, 
you then enter York river, on the left also, and 
proceed up to York, which lies opposite Glocester 
point, where the river is more narrow, but the 
water very deep. 

The first thing attempted by the fleet was to 
block up York river, to prevent all communication 
of Cornwallis with the enemy at New-York ; and 
the next to block the entrance of James river by 
a sufficient force, to keep up a communication with 
Lafayette at Williamsburgh, a place lying about 
midway between these two rivers. It was feared 
that Cornwallis might discover the circle drawn 
around him, and profit by the only chance remain- 
ing, which was to rush on the force of Lafayette, 
with his superior numbers, overwhelm him and 
escape to the Carolinas. Not a moment was lost 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 271 

to prevent such a catastrophe. Three thousand 
French troops were immediately embarked in light 
boats, under the Marquis D'St. Simon, and safely 
pushed up James river, from whence they speed- 
ily etiected a junction with his forces. 

The English were engaged with indefatigable 
industry in increasing and strengthening their for- 
tifications, and a heavy siege was anticipated by 
the allies. In the mean time the characters en- 
gaged, like the dramatic personse of a romance or 
a play, were all coming forward tog'ether to 
heighten the denoument of the plot. 

Three days before the arrival of the Count I)' 
Grasse, D'Barrashad made sail from Rhode-Island 
with four ships of the line, and some frigates or 
corvettes, and embarked what implements of siege 
he had been able to collect. With consummate 
prudence he had stood far out to sea, to avoid the 
British squadrons in the neighborhood of New- 
York, had gained the waters of the Bahama Is- 
lands, and then bore down for the Chesapeake. 
Aroused at length from their torpor, the amazed 
commanders at New-York began to look around 
them. Nothing could have been calculated to en- 
rage and surprize such a calculating, manoeuver- 
ing and plotting company, as the being over- 
reached in a manoeuvre. Immediate information 
was despatched to the fleet cruising in the waters 
of Boston. Admiral Hood too appeared at the en- 
trance of the bay, with fourteen sail of the line, 
just after the French fleet had stationed them- 
selves there. He had come expecting to join Ad- 
miral Graves, and disappointed at not finding him 
he immediately stood out again, without going far 
enough in to see the French fleet, and made for 
Sandy Hook to join him. Admiral Graves had 
just arrived there from Boston, but as the com- 
mand now devolved on him as senior oflicer, he 



272 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

hastened their departure, and set sail for the 
Chesapeake ; and all this to overwhelm the four 
ships of the line and corvettes of Barras, for as yet 
both of them were profoundly ignorant of the ar- 
rival of the Count D'Grasse. But they had no 
sooner rounded Cape Henry than behold ! the 
whole French fleet, in all its imposing majesty, lay 
before them. Twenty-four of those large ships of 
the line, extending from the Cape to the Bank 
called the Middle Ground, was not a sight calcu- 
lated to re-assure the British, foiled as they had 
been by the manoeuvers of Washington, and out- 
witted by a wily Frenchman, who with his four 
ships and corvettes had somehow eluded their 
grasp. Nevertheless, there was but one course to 
adopt. Fight they must. They were already in 
the lion's jaws, for the Count D'Grasse at sight of 
them had quickly slipped his cables and bore down 
upon them prepared for action. Fifteen hundred 
of his seamen had been despatched up the James 
river, to take the reinforcement up to Lafayette, 
and they had not returned, and their presence was 
much needed on board the French ships ; but still 
the superiority was greatly on the French side. 
A victory was certain ; but sure as it was, it could 
not be acquired without great slaughter, without 
an immense loss of life ; and where then might be 
the people whom he came to serve and to save ? 
If he preserved his men the victory on land too 
was certain, and although the Count D'Grasse 
was one of the bravest men of the age, he was as 
good as he was brave ; and impelled by these con- 
siderations, he resolved not to risk a decisive bat- 
tle. He bore down, however, and the vans of the 
two contending parties had a warm contest — 200 
were killed or wounded on the side of the French, 
and SS6 sailors and marines on the part of the 
Endish, with the loss of the *' Terrible," one of 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 273 

their largest ships, and four others were so shat- 
tered and torn as to be ahnost unmanageable. 
The one they found sinking they set fire to, and 
night coming on, they were obliged to separate. 

The two hostile fleets continued to manoiuver in 
sight of each other several days, during which 
Count D'Barras safely ascended the Chesapeake 
bay, with his squadron and convoy, and then the 
Count D'Grasse retired into the bay and came to 
anchor. The English had attempted to send de- 
spatches to Cornvvallis by two frigates undiscov- 
ered, while D'Grasse was in the open sea, but 
they failed to reach him, and fell into the hands 
of the French. The English then drew off and 
made all sail for Sandy Hook. 

The stores from Rhode-Island were then un- 
shipped — all the artillery and munitions of war, 
kc. — and then employed with the light shipping 
of the fleet in conveying General Washington and 
his army from Annapolis to the mouth of James 
river, and thence to VVilliamsburgh. 

An army of 20,000 men now invested Yorktown, 
while a fleet of near 30 sail of the line blocked up 
the mouths of both James river and York river. 
The English had fortified the space of ground they 
now occupied with the greatest judgment. A 
chain of redoubts extended across the upper side, 
curtained together ; a morassy ravine extended 
along the front of these works, and upon this the 
beseiged had erected another large redoubt ; in 
short, the whole place was defended in the best 
manner possible. 

The trenches were opened between the Gth and 
7th of October, and while the fire of the beseigers 
was pouring in upon them, the enemy completed 
another parallel of batteries, and covered them 
with little less than 100 pieces of ordnance. 

With such force were the shells thrown from 



274 L5FE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

the Americans, that they even reached the ships 
in the harbor, and one of the British ships of 44 
guns was burnt, with several transports. The pre- 
cision of General Knox, who commanded the ar- 
tillery, was such as even to astonish the French. 
What a scene must the field of battle on the 
plains of Yorktov/n have presented that season I 
First on their right, a few hundred yards down on 
the banks of York river, was stationed the gallant 
light infantry of Virginia, a little further on was 
Governor Nelson, with a company of militia, while 
next in order in the chain of circutnvallation, was 
the noble Lafayette at the head of the Rhode-Is- 
land and New-Jersey regiments ; next were sta- 
tioned a company of sappers and miners, then Gen. 
Knox, then Baron Steuben with the Maryland and 
Pennsylvania regiments, then a regiment of Vir- 
ginia, next the Count D'Rochambeau ; about mid- 
way of the circle was the main army, commanded 
by General Washington, and beyond him the 
French regiments, composing a list of unspeaka- 
ble names, all except the Marquis de St. Simon, 
and the Baron de Viosminel, and Dieux Points. 
Imagine all this, with the lines intersected by 
French hospitals, and artificers, and labratories, 
and magazines, and quartermasters' quarters, &e. 
&e. and the radii of the circle comprising the field 
where the British afterwards laid down their 
arms — imagine all this, and a constant discharge 
of artillery and shells, and rockets, and no body 
knows what, darkening the air by day and illu- 
minating it through the night — all this going on 
through the whole twenty-four hours, for the 
space often days and nights, or nine as Captain 
Olney proves — and you have some idea of the 
scene. The place could have been carried by as- 
sault doubtless, but the loss oi' life would have 
been great, and knowing the enemy were in their 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 275^ 

power, the allies determined to save the blood of 
their troops. Captain OIney makes it nine days 
only, and we shall by and by prove he was riccht, 
though it contradicts history. The siege of York- 
town lasted only nine days. 

During this lime the British made two efforts 
to escape. The first was by a sortie, in whicii 
they were driven back by the Chevalier D'No- 
alles, and the second was an experiment of cross- 
ing over to Gloucester Point. The corps of M. 
D'Choisy guarded that place, and they determin- 
ed to disperse that if possible, and escape into the 
country situated between the York and Rappa- 
hannock rivers, and by keeping so many miles 
ahead of the allied armies, as they should gain in 
the course of the night, make their escape. A part 
of them had already crossed over, when a violent 
«torm of wind and rain commenced, and drove 
their boats down the river, and at break of day 
they found themselves obliged to get into their 
camp again, in worse condition than" they left it. 

The besiegers had got within 300 yards of 
them, and they had soon the mortification to find 
all their batteries upon the let^t flank dismounted. 
Washington now gave orders to storm the two 
advanced redoubts of the enemy. To excite em- 
ulation, he committed one to the Americans and 
one to the French. Lafayette commanded the 
American detachment, assisted by Colonel Ham- 
ilton, one of Washington's aids. In this detach- 
ment Captain OIney was included, and we give 
the remainder in his words. 

" After forming our parallel within cannon shot, 
it was thought necessary to get possession of two 
of the enemy's redoubts, which projected from 
their main works, and were situated where it was 
thought proper to erect our second parallel, in or- 
der to levei the way, cut off palisades, and beat 



276 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

down Other obstructions. Our artillery were 
briskly served the 13th of October ; on the 14th 
the Marquis had orders to storm the redoubt on 
our right, commanded by a British Major, while 
the French troops attacked that on our left, which 
was of greater force, and in their front. Our regi- 
ment of light infantry, commanded by Colonel 
Gimatt, a bold Frenchman, was selected for the 
assault, and was paraded just after daylight, in 
front of our works. General Washington made a 
short address or harangue, admonishing us to act 
the part of firm and brave soldiers, showing the 
necessity of accomplishing the object, as the at- 
tack on both redoubts depended on our success. 
I thought then, that his Excellency's knees rather 
shook, but 1 have since doubted whether it was 
not mine." 

" The column marched in silence, with guns un- 
loaded, and in good order. Many, no doubt, think- 
ing, that less than one quarter of a mile would fin- 
ish the journey of life with them. On the march, 1 
had a chance to whisper to several of my men 
(whom I doubted,) and told them that I had full confi- 
dence that they would act the part of brave soldiers, let 
what would come; and if their guns should be shot 
away, not to retreat, but take the first man's gun 
that might be killed. When we had got about 
halfway to the redoubt we were ordered to halt, 
and detach one man from each company for the 
forlorn hope. My men all seemed ready to go. 
The column then moved on ; six or eight pioneers 
ia front, as many of the forlorn hope next, then 
Colonel Gimatt v/ith five or six volunteers by his 
side, then my platoon, being the front of the col- 
umn. When we came near the front of the abatis, 
the enemy fired a full body of musketry. At this, 
our men broke silence and hiizzaed ; and as the 
order for silence seemed broken by every one, I 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 277 

huzzaed with all my power, saying, see how fright- 
ened they are, they fire right into the air. The 
pioneers began to cut ofl' the abatis, which were 
the trunks of trees with the trunk part fixed in the 
ground, the hmbs made sharp, and pointed to- 
wards us .This seemed tedious work, in the dark, 
within three rods of the enemy ; and I ran to the 
right to look a place to crawl through, but returned 
in a hurry, without success, fearing the men would 
get through first ; as it happened, I made out to 
get through about the first, and entered the ditch; 
and when I found my men to the number of ten 
or twelve had arrived, I stepped through between 
two palisades, (one having been shot off to make 
room,) on to the parapet, and called out in a tone 
as if there was no danger. Captain Olney's com- 
pany, form here ! On this I had not less than six 
or eight bayonets pushed at me ; I parried as well 
as I could with my espontoon, but they broke off 
the blade part, and their bayonets slid along the 
handle of my espontoon and scaled my fingers ; 
one bayonet pierced my thigh, another stabbed me 
in the abdomen just above the hip-bone. One fel- 
low fired at me, and I thought the ball took effect in 
my arm ; by the light of his gun I made a thrust 
with the remains of my espontoon, in order to in- 
jure the sight of his eyes ; but as it happened, I 
only made a hard stroke in his forehead. At this 
instant two of my men, John Strange and Benja- 
min Bennett, who had loaded their guns while 
they were in the ditch, came up and fired upon 
the enemy, who part ran away and some surren- 
dered ; so that we entered the redoubt without 
further opposition." 

"My sergeant, Edward Butterick, to whom I 
was much indebted for his bravery, helped me 
nearly all this affray ; and received a prick of the 
24 



278 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

enemy's bayonet, in his stomach. Sergeant Brown 
was also in time, but attempting to load his gun, 
received a bayonet wound in his hand. Colonel 
Gimatt was wounded with a musket ball in the 
foot, about the first fire of the enemy ; and I sup- 
pose it took all the volunteers to carry him off, as 
I never saw any of them afterwards. When most 
of the regiment had got into the redoubt, I direct- 
ed them to form in order. Major Willis's post being 
in the rear ; I suppose he got in about the time 1 
was carried away with the wounded." 

"My company, which consisted of about forty, 
suffered the most, (least, probably,) as they had 
only five or six wounded, all slightly, except Peter 
Barrows, who had a ball pass through the under 
jaw ; I believe we had none killed." 

"The French suffered much more than we did. 
I v/as informed they had eighteen killed, and v^^as 
half an hour before they took the redoubt, waiting 
with the cokmm exposed, until the pioneers com- 
pletely cleared away the obstructions. We made 
out to crawl through, or get over, and from the 
enemy's first fire, until we got possession of the 
redoubt, I think did not exceed ten minutes." 

"When my wounds came to be examined, next 
day, that on my left arm, which gave me most 
pain when inflicted, was turned black all round, 
three or four inches in length ; neither skin nor 
coat broken. The stab in my thigh, was slight, 
that in front, near my hip, was judged to be mor- 
tal, by the surgeons, as a little part of the caul 
protruded. I was carried to the hospital at Wil- 
liamsburgh, twelve miles, and in about three 
weeks my wounds healed, and I joined the regi- 
ment. The man who fired on me was brought to 
the hospital ; I examined the wound I had inflicted 
with the handle of my espontoon ; it had not in- 
jured his eyes, but only made a deep furrow in his 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 279 

forehead ; I asked him how it happened they 
continued to fight at the place I entered, when 
most of them on the right had ran away. This 
I had discovered, by the light of his fire. He 
said he thought they were all at their posts. I be- 
lieve they were all half drunk ; in this condition, 
the British soldiers generally fight. We had not 
been in the redoubt more than five minutes, when 
Charles M'Aflerty, an Irishman, and pretended 
Freemason, got out a bottle of wine, and invited 
me to driniv. Who but an Irish or Englishman 
would have thought of such a thing ? It reminds 
us of an expression of Shakspeare, ' Had you 
such leisure in the pangs of death ?' " 

No doubt this account of their drunkenness is 
correct, and it accounts for their prodigality of life, 
and fighting so like bull-dogs, as they do. Their 
officers, it appears to us, can never be sober from 
one month's end to another, if wine will intoxicate. 
No man who allows himself to drink three or four 
bottles of wine in a day, can ever know what it is 
TO be sober, for before the fumes of one dose has 
time to evaporate, another is put down. We have 
recently conversed with a gentleman who was in 
the fleet that made an unsuccessful attempt upon 
one of our maritime cities, (Baltimore,) during the 
last war, and by his account, every officer on board 
was drunk, except one, at the time ! ! 

''That part of the British troops who ran out 
of the redoubt first, must have discovered a party 
of ours on their right ; I presume, that led by 
Colonel Gimatt. What became of them I did not 
know, as I discovered none but our ])arty when I 
formed the regiment. A few days after, I inquir- 
ed of a soldier, how it happened they did not get 
into the redoubt. He said, ' the enemy pricked 
them off with their bayonets.'" 

•' This was the most hazardous enterprise that 



280 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

ever fell to my lot ; but my spirits, and those of 
my men, were not half so much depressed as in 
other eng-agements, when we acted on the de- 
fensive. The army which acts offensively is most 
likely to gain the victory, and require the reputa- 
tion of brave men. When we make an attack, we 
feel assured of being able to accomplish our design, 
and are obstinately bent not to give it up. But 
when attacked, presuppose our enemy superior, 
and after fighting awhile and find our enemy ad- 
vancing, give up the contest. It is thought by 
some, that fifty men may attack the like number 
in a fort on different quarters, and be sure of vic- 
tory. However this may be, I had in this attack 
only four men to help m.e before the remaining en- 
emy, about fifteen or twenty in number, gave up 
the redoubt. My two men who fired their guns 
brought them to this conclusion. I presume the 
balls had no effect ; but such is the terror of noise 
in firing gunpowder. I had rather frighten ten 
men from their post by firing gunpowder, than kill 
one man who defends himself bravely with his 
gun and bayonet. I think the front rank of the 
column in attacking a work like the one above- 
mentioned, ought to be loaded with buck shot, 
with orders not to fire until they get on to the 
parapet ; and the next rank, with spears two feet 
longer than a gun and bayonet ; the remainder of 
the column with only a gun and bayonet, without 
flints or ammunition." 

" The first rank I expect would intimidate and 
kill; the spearmen would be ready to encounter to 
advantage those who might have courage still to 
fight ; and the men without ammunition would 
niake up their minds to engage in close quarters, 
could not load or endanger their fellows, and com- 
ing up in the confusion would be sure to gain the 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 281 

victory unless they had a very obstinate enemy 
to contend with." 

''Alter taking the redoubt, I was informed that 
our army commenced making our second parallel. 
This brought the two contending armies within 
musket shot of each other. The cannon was 
briskly served on both sides, until the 16th, and 
on the 17th, Cornwallis surrendered." History 
says he surrendered on the 19th. 

The British, aware that they could hold out no 
longer when the second parallel should be included, 
were driven to desperation. It was on the night 
succeeding that they made the attempt to cross 
over to Gloucester Point. The circle by which 
they were surrounded was drawing closer and 
closer, and their own quarters, to which they 
were now driven, had become extremely circum- 
scribed. Failing in this, they resolved the next 
to negotiate with the alhed armies, and procure 
as honorable terms of capitulation as possible. 
Crafty to the last, they demanded the most un- 
reasonable indulgences — first a truce for 24 hours. 
This Washington promptly refused, and allowed 
only two to dispose of the business in. Cornwal- 
lis then demanded his men might be allowed to 
return to Europe, the Germans to their country 
and the English to theirs. This was promptly re- 
fused. He demanded besides the " regulation of 
the interests" of those loyalists who had followed 
his fortunes. This too was refused. But to the 
request that the sloop Bonnetta should be allowed 
to go to New-York, with a few passengers, the 
number being agreed upon, without search, and 
the persons being accounted for as prisoners upon 
exchange, the commander agreed, probably on 
purpose to avoid the terrible necessity of hanging 
some score or more of his own countrymen. 
24* 



282 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

The sloop Bonnetta returned, and was deliver- 
ed up to the French, to whom their shipping and 
naval munitions were given, as their part. Their 
flotilla consisted of two large frigates, and 20 trans- 
ports — 20 had been burnt by the French and 
Americans during the siege. 

The number of land forces delivered up to the 
Americans was between 7 and 8000, 2000 of 
whom were wounded. Five hundred and fifty 
had been slain in their intrenchments. Of the 
number of marines slain, which must have been 
considerable, there is KtO account. History merely 
records, that those who remained were given up 
to the French, with the shipping, &c. ; and Capt. 
Olney did not know, probably, as he makes no 
mention of it. 

The Americans had the field artilery, consist- 
ing of 160 pieces of cannon, the greater part brass, 
and eight mortars. The Americans and French 
lost during this siege, 450 in kiUed and wounded. 

It has been related to the writer of this, that 
the British oflicers just about to come out insisted 
upon marching out with the honors of war, when 
the commander in chief was appealed to, who 
wrote on a slip of paper, " march out as General 
Lincoln did, when he surrendered to your coun- 
trymen." Memory does not supply us with the 
circumstances of this humiliation, but we recol- 
lect there was something peculiarly mortifying 
in it, and whatever it was, the prisoners on this 
occasion had to go through the same. 

It is a source of pride and pleasure to every 
American to reflect, that distant ages as they read 
this page of our history, and mentally ask the ques- 
tion, " and how did these conquerers deport them- 
selves ? what revenge did they take for the mur- 
dered thousands of their countrymen, shut up in 
loathsome dungeons and prison ships ? for the 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 283 

11,000 who perished in the "Jersey," for the in- 
habitants of slaughtered towns, for the 1600 car- 
ried to Halifax and starved to death, for the slaugh- 
tered inhabitants of New-London, for the brave 
defenders of fort Griswold, put to the sword, in 
cold blood, after they had surrendered ? (the last, 
even within this very month, by orders from Gen. 
Clinton, in order to divert the besiegers from New- 
York.) Did they put the garrison of York to the 
sword ? By the laws of reprisals, of retaliation 
they would have been justified. Or did they con- 
tent themselves with a general robbery of private 
as well as public property, with starving and im- 
muring them a while and send them home naked 
and diseased ?" No. We say that it is a source of 
pride and pleasure, and let us add, of gratitude, 
that when this question suggests itself the answer 
will be found on the page of history. So far from 
robbing, private property was not only respected, 
but the French made the English offers of money, 
both in public and private, and endeavored to con- 
sole the vanquished by every mark of sympathiz- 
ing interest. The prisoners were conducted to 
the interior of the country. 

The great command is not, do unto others as 
they do to you, but " as you would have them do 
unto you ;" and if a nation, founded in righteous- 
ness, shall stand, we may hope that our fair Re- 
public shall last long after kings and empires 
shall have fought each other off of the face of the 
earth. Four days after the surrender of Cornwal- 
lis, General Clinton arrived from Rhode-Island, 
with a fleet of 24 sail of the line, and hearing of 
the surrender, off Cape Henry, he turned about, 
and with grief of heart retraced his way back to 
Rhode-Island. 



284 ^-IFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The military life of Captain Olney ceased with 
the expiration of the siege of Yorktown, although 
he did not lay down his commission immediately, 
or not until March 1782. True, there was not 
much active service afterwards. The capture of 
Cornwallis sealed the fate of the contest. But 
Captain Olney, it is to be regretted, left the army 
with somewhat unpleasant feelings ; but we will 
let him tell the story himself. He says, 

" The next day after storming the redoubt, the 
Marquis Lafayette complimented the regiment for 
their bravery, and said he was sorry for the mis- 
fortune of Captains Hunt and Olney. Captain 
Hunt was next in rank to me, and brought up the 
rear, and happened to hit his ancle against a bay- 
onet fixed to a gun lying on the ground. Some of 
my brother officers informed me of this order, and 
the placing our names contrary to the uniform es- 
tablished practice, and as I had suffered from the 
enemy's guns in front of battle, they considered it 
as an imposition. I w^as lying in my tent, very 
sore and lame, but this intelligence nearly de- 
prived me of the sense of pain. I wrote to the 
Marquis to know how it happened he mentioned 
the wounded officers in that order ? He, by letter, 
informed me he mentioned them in the order the 
Adjutant had given them to him." 

The real letter of Lafayette is in our possession 
among his papers, and is as follows : 

" My dear Sir, 

" I was much employed yesterday in receiving 
the British army, and am so much so at this time 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 285 

in writing despatches fur France, that I am pre- 
vented from writing you a long- letter. I mention- 
ed the names of the wounded officers in the divi- 
sion orders, as they were given lo me by the Brig- 
adier. In my report to the General, in particular I 
mentioned your name, and I make no doubt but it 
will be mentioned to Congress, in the highest 
terms. I have the highest regard for your gal- 
lantry on the occasion — and shall be always liap- 
py to render you my services, and a testimony to 
the merit you are so justly entitled to. 
I have the honor to be 

Your most obt. humble servt. 

LAFAYETTE. 
Head- Quarters, Yorktown, 
October 18, 1781." 

If this date be correct, the siege of Yorktown 
did not hold out so long by two day as the history 
of the revolution asserts. 

Captain Olney proceeds, " I inquired of the Ad- 
jutant, who was a Lieutenant in Captain Hunt's 
company. He denied misplacing our names, but 
I shall always think he did, either by mistake or 
design." 

'' A day or tvv^o after. Colonel Gimatt told me 
the Marquis was very sorry for the mistake, and 
directed him to inform me he would issue any or- 
der I might think proper, to give satisfaction. I 
could only say, let it go, the day is past.^^ 

" In the army," continues Capt. Olney, "there 
are some who make it their business to pull down 
the character of others so much easier than to 
build up their own. From this time, I made up 
my mind not to fight many more battles, but leave 
it to those who were inclined to a military profes- 
sion. In fact at this time most of the officers 
were so inclined, but believing there would be but 



2S6 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

little or no more real service, and by continuing" to 
the end, Congress niig-lit be influenced to make 
them some remuneration for their service, they 
remained. I did not believe my country was then 
able to satisfy their denmnds, and as to half pay, 
it seemed to me deviating from v^^hat we first sat 
out upon, viz. no sinecure or half-pay offices." 

" Being in the 27th year of my age, having 
served my country through all her dark days of 
adversity, and in all situations of danger that fell 
to my lot, having acquitted myself much better 
than I could have expected, to the satisfaction of 
riiy superiors, and expecting no reward but the In- 
dependence and liberty of my country, it seemed 
necessary now to take some other calling to pro- 
vide for a growing family and old age. Affer quar- 
tering with my regiment at Philadelphia in March 
1781, I resigned my commission." 

Here ends the manuscript of Captain Olney, and 
it is painful to reflect, that after a course of so 
much firmness and bravery, he should have thrown 
up his commission under the writhingsof a wound- 
ed spirit. That the little omission of military eti- 
quette should have disturbed his peace so much, 
is greatly to be lamented ; and still more is it that 
the expression of his chagrin should have given 
offence ; but although his name was from accident 
omitted in its proper place, in the report, yet it is 
easy to perceive that neglect might have been 
atoned for afterwards, and certainly ought to have 
been, by his promotion ; and we are constrained 
to believe as he himself did, that he had some se- 
cret enemy at work, who prevented his advance- 
ment ; and yet it is difficult to conceive how the 
discerning eye of Washington could have been 
deceived by the representations of such persons, 
and we must leave it as among those mysteries 
which will never be cleared up in this world. The 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. oS7 

throwing up of his commission, at the time he did 
it, was evidently a mistake, it being* so plain that 
the war was then drawing* towards a conclusion. 

After this, Captain Olney retired to the shades 
of private life, and sat himself down to the culti- 
vation of his farm. His townsmen, howcvcr, 
would not permit him to remain in obscurity, and 
they manifested their gratitude for his services by 
electing him their Representative for many years 
in the State Legislature, and President of the 
Town-Council, both of which offices he filled with 
honor to himself and acceptance to the people. 
Through all his life, he seems to have cherished 
the v^armest regard for the commander in chief of 
the American armies, and for General Lafayette. 

The month in which he threw up his commis- 
sion, his third child, a daughter, was born ; in 
1784, a son, whom he called Alfred; another 
daughter in 1787 ; and on the 25th of April 1789, 
a son, whom he called George Washington, and in 
his family Bible he mentions that this son was 
born just two days after General Washington ar- 
rived at New- York to exercise his office of Presi- 
dent of the United States. He had a son whom 
he called John, who was born on the 12th of Oct. 
1791, and another, his last child, whom he called 
David Adams, born in 1798. 

When Lafayette visited the United States, in 
1824, Captain Olney was not forgotten. A play 
was got up in the city of New- York, in honor of 
the nation's guest, entitled the " Siege of York- 
town, in which Capt. Olney was made to appear 
as a prominent character, and it was performed 
before the General ; and when he was triumph- 
antly escorted through the streets of our own 
city of Providence, upon alighting at the State- 
house, he was met on the steps by Captain Olney, 
whom he instantly recognised, and, with all the 



288 ^IFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

warmth of French feeling, folded in his arms, 
kissing him on each cheek, and so melting was 
the scene, that among the many hundreds who 
witnessed this honest and patriotic effusion of ten- 
derness, scarce a dry eye was to be seen. 

In his house and about every thing one might 
discover a military predilection. There was some 
remembrance of the war of the revolution every 
where. 

To our great regret we have not been able to 
obtain the muster-roll of Capt. Olney's company, 
but the following names found among his papers, 
must have comprised a large part of them, before 
the battle of Yorktown. They are signed to a 
receipt for payment of depreciation of their wages, 
one quarter part of which they acknowledge to 
have received on the 31st of July 1781, three 
months before the siege of Yorktown, and it ap- 
pears by this receipt that the depreciation in three 
years and seven months was, to a private soldier, 
58 pounds sterling. A quarter only was received 
at this time. It is dated at the " Camp of Mal- 
bern's Hills, July 31st, 1781." 

List of names in Captain Stephen Olney^s Company. 

B. J. Peckham, Lieutenant, w. 
Thomas T. Brown, Sergeant, w. 
Edward Butterick, do. 

Hosea Crandal, do. 

Joseph Wheaton, Lieutenant. 
Arther Clossen, Corporal. 
Edward Champlain, Private. 
Joseph Congdon, do. 

John Rhodes, do. 

Sylvester Woodman, do. 
Souliot Langworthy, do. 
Zebulon Screvens, do, w. 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 289 

Samuel Thompson, Private. 
Abraham Rose, of N. H. do. 
James Ogg-, do. 

James Pollard, do. 

John Saunders, do. 

John Thomas, do. 

Jotham Bennis, do, 

John Chadwick, do. 

Farmin Dye, do. 

Durfey Springer, do. 

John Randall, do. 

Peter Barrows, do. 

Franklin Tenant, do. 

Uriah Jones, do. 

John Strange, do. 

Joshua Smith, do. 

Benjamin Blanchard, do. 
John Chilson, do. 

William Bennet, do. 

Nathan West, Fifer. 
David Edwards, Private. 
Benjamin Bickford, Sergeant. 
Charles M'Afferty, Private. 
Benjamin Jackson, do. 

Benjamin Bennet, do. 

Malhew Hart, do. 

Samuel Gear, do. 

N. B. — Those with a w. set against their names 
were wounded at Yorktown, October 14th, 1781. 
Mtest to the above , 

B. R. PECKHAM, Lieutenant. 

It is a circumstance much to be lamented, that 
the brave defenders of our country's rights could 
not have received their pensions at an earlier sea- 
son, while the prospect of a few years of rest from 
25 



290 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

the cares of business and the enjoyment of a com- 
petence was before them. Captain Ohiey did not 
obtain a pension until May 28th, 1830, and he 
lived only two years and a half afterwards, the 
act passed in May 1828, for the relief of those who 
served until the end of the war, not extending' to 
his case. 

The following letter, written by him to the Hon. 
Dutee J. Pearce, wilt explain his own views re- 
specting his services. Mr. Pearce had advised 
him "to petition," as the only way, since the 
fourth section of that act excluded him. 

"Johnston, December 29, 1828. 
" Dear Sir, 

" As proposed when I saw you at Providence, I 
have sent to Mr. B urges a petition to Congress. 
As he is left out of the committee to whom such 
petitions are referred, and as all the officers of the 
revolution are provided for who might have had 
powerful friends in Congress, I am fearful of the 
result, unless you and all my friends from this 
State will be so kind as to use your best influence 
in my favor. If the merits of my claim were not 
far superior to many others who now rejoice by 
means of the liberality of their country, I never 
should have troubled Congress ; 1 am confirmed 
in this opinion by some of our most respectable 
men, who are no flatterers, and who make their 
comparison from the best samples, upon reflec- 
tion of what I have done and suffered, and what 
I have received. It took me several months to 
form and put on the poor habits of a soldier; I was 
about six years and ten months in the army ; it 
took me one year to discard the habits of a soldier, 
and put on those of a farmer ; all this makes eight 
years of the best part of life. For all this time I 
did not receive more than 150 or $200, more than 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 291 

a poor living for myself only . My petition enume- 
rates the principal causes that induced me to leave 
the army. A circumstance happened at the cap- 
ture of Cornwallis at Yorktown, which had an ef- 
fect to this step, and materially damped the cheer- 
fulness and spirit with which I had heretofore 
served my country. It was this, in storming the 
enemy's redoubt, after my Colonel, Gimatt, was 
wounded by a ball at the abatis and carried off by 
volunteers and others who preferred that course, 
it was my post to be at the head of the column, 
and on the enemy's breast works, received three 
bayonet wounds in front, besides some scratches 
on my hands with the same weapons ; being in 
a hurry, these did not alter my course, or slacken 
me speed ; but in a few minutes I formed my com- 
pany within the enemy's redoubt, and becoming 
lame was carried off wounded. Captain Hunt 
next to me in command brought up the rear, and 
when coming into the works hit his ancle against 
a bayonet fixed on a gun and received a slight 
wound. 

In the orders of next day, the Marquis Lafayette, 
fiTter extolling the bravery of the troops, said he 
was sorry for the misfortune of Captains Hunt and 
Olney ; this seemed to me the most provoking 
neglect I ever met with ; the Marquis said he men- 
tioned the names of the officers as returned to him; 
that he would do any thing I might wish to set 
the matter right; (it seemed to me a difficult case) 
the Brigade-Major denied misplacing our names, 
notwithstanding which, I believe he did either 
through mistake or design, as he belonged to Capt. 
Hunt's company. 

There is in the army as elsewhere, a set of mis- 
creants who if they cannot build up themselves, 
will be seeking to pull down all above them. Be- 
lieving it would never be in my power to behave 



292 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

any better, or be more deserving of honor, and if 
I continued longer, might commit some error, 
which would damp the pleasing reflection, that I 
had served my country with fidelity and honor to 
the best of my abilities, I resigned. Besides, I be- 
gan to think my fate was fixed like that of the dwarf 
in his copartnership with the giant, I should get all 
the blows and wounds and others the reward and 
honor. I have wrote to Messrs. Robbins, Knight 
and Burges, and consider my letters as common 
stock, not equal to that of the old Glocester Bank. 
I hope you will pardon all amiss; we old soldiers 
are apt to be very prolix. 

With sentiments of esteem and respect, 
Yours, 

STEPHEN OLNEY. 
Hon. Duty J. Pearce. 



The first wife of Captain Olney, and mother of 
his children, died on 13th of December 1813. 
About the year 1826, Captain Olney married a 
widow lady in Johnston, R. I. and in accordance 
with her earnest wishes resided with her on her 
farm in Johnston, for the last years of his life. 
His letter to Mr. Pearce, it will be observed, was 
dated at that place. Mr. Pearce was on the com- 
mittee, and endeavored to serve him all in his 
power, knowing him intimately, and above all re- 
alizing the importance of his services during the 
momentous contest for independence. Through 
his good ofiices the petition was favorably report- 
ed on, but for some reason or other it was not 
granted until some time after. On March 25th, 
1830, he addressed the following letter to Mr. 
Burges. That gentleman, together with Mr. 
Pearce, did not fail to make fresh efforts, and at 
length, principally through the interposition of the 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 293 

latter, he being on the comnnittee, the prayer of 
the petition was granted. 

It is due to Mr. Pearce to say, that on this as 
well as on other occasions, while filling the im- 
portant station he held, he made great exertions 
for his native State. It was not only for the aged 
defenders of our soil that they were used, but 
for the interests and prosperity of this section 
of the country generally, and the resuscitation of 
Newport may in a very great measure be ascribed 
to his exertions in calling the attention of the gov- 
ernment to that station ; and he carries with him 
into retirement the pleasing consciousness of hav- 
ing contributed to so important and desirable an 
object. 

The following is the copy of the letter to Mr. 
Burges, and of the act passed on the 28th of May, 
by which the last years of the venerable hero 
(and a very brief space it was) were made more 
comfortable, and above all bestowed the pleasing 
assurance that his country was not unmindful of 
his services. 

^'Johnston, March 2.5th, 1830. 
*' Dear Sir, 

" I was honored with your favor of December 
11th, in due time. Not having heard respecting 
the fate of my petition, I am apprehensive there 
are some objections to encounter. The report of 
the committee of the House last session being in 
favor, I had hopes it would have passed without 
opposition. My case being singular, and my ser- 
vices so near similar to those officers who served 
till peace, that I could not help entertaining the 
pleasing hopes that Congress, in their liberality, 
would grant me the like remuneration, the pay to 
commence when theirs did. My age and infirmi- 
25* 



294 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

ties admonish me that anticipation is the only 
mode by which I can feel the bounty, and this 
measurably in the cheerful reflection that Con- 
gress have estimated my services worthy of re- 
ward, and enabled me to support myself, and 
therefore relieve my children who ought to pro- 
vide for themselves against old age. I am in the 
75th year of my age, in health except disabled 
with a cancer tumor in one arm, which was ex-' 
tracted by Dr. Miller last v/inter, and seems to be 
growing again, so that I am in that class of sol- 
diers recommended by the President to be pro- 
vided for. I have eight children, and twenty-six 
grand-children. My property is real estate, and 
will rent for about $400. From this source comes 
the support of myself and family, and two sons 
with their families, making a total of twenty. 
You will see by this that we do not live extrava- 
gantly, and that any grant Congress may please 
to make me, will not infringe our republican insti- 
tutions. I am very loath, my dear sir, to intrude 
on your time, as it appears to me the public exi- 
gences require the best exertion of every good 
man in Congress. But as a solitary individual, to 
be forgotten or neglected by my country, when 
she knows my best and unwearied exertions were 
afforded her in all the trying times of her distress, 
and that about the last blood to seal her inden- 
dence was freely shed from my veins, is more than 
I am willing should fall to my lot, especially when 
I compare my services with some others who have 
always lived at the public charge, and were liber- 
ally provided for last session. I expect that those 
who are against any further provision for the sur- 
vivors of the revolutionary army will defeat the 
measure, either by professing to make the grant 
too extensive, or by finding other business for 
Congress. 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 295 

Pardon the prolixity of this letter, and all amiss. 
The many blunders and mistakes incident to my 
life have produced such diffidence, that even in 
politics I am not confident of being right, though 
many men of the most good sense are of the same 
opinion, 

Be assured, dear sir, that I am, with sentiments 
of esteem and respect, your obedient servant. 

STEPHEN OLNEY. 

Hon. Tristam Burges." 

AN ACT for the relief of Stephen Olney. 

Section 1. Beit enacted by the Senate and House 
of Representatives of the United States of America in 
Congress assembled, That the benefits of the provis- 
ions of the act, entitled " An act for the relief of 
certain surviving officers and soldiers of the Army 
of the Revolution," passed May the fifteenth, one 
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, be ex- 
tended to Stephen Olney, of Rhode-Island, a cap- 
tain in the Army of the Revolution, and that he 
be paid and accounted with in the same manner 
as if he had already, at any time heretofore, since 
the passage of said act, complied with all the re- 
quisitions of the fourth section thereof, to be paid 
out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise 
appropriated. [Approved, May 28, 1830.] 

The pension was obtained, but the sands of life 
with him who had obtained it, were now running 
low. The disease of which he speaks in the let- 
ter, returned, and he was compelled to lose his 
arm by it. 

It was remarked by a friend who was with him 
on this painful occasion, " that there was a mani- 
fest diflTerence when the fever of excitement was 
on and when it was off. He who was forcibly led 



296 I^IFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

off the battle ground after being twice wounded, 
and run through the body, fainted twice at the 
amputation of an arm." Even this painful opera- 
tion did not save him. He kept about some months 
after, but his life seemed ebbing away. A short 
time before his death, he was carried back to his 
farm, his early home, by his own request, and 
died there. His widow survived him only two 
years. 

Captain Stephen Oiney departed this life on the 
23d of November 1832, aged 77 years, and was 
buried on his own farm in North-Providence, 
where his fathers sleep. A plain slate stone re- 
cords his name, and gives a brief history of his 
services during the revolution. It was penned by 
one of the principal men of his town, Mr. Olney 
Winsor, a dear and intimate friend of his, and one 
of his kindest and best neighbors, and adds the 
attestation of his high acceptance in the various 
offices he was called to fill in his native State. 
His descendants generally reside in the State of 
Rhode-Island. One of his sons preceded him to 
eternity. One of them now resides in the western 
part of the State of New-York, and one at Fall 
River, Mass. His youngest daughter, Mary, mar- 
ried a Mr. King, of Johnston, and to him and Mr. 
David A. Olney, of Fall River, the compiler of this 
narrative is indebted for the bequest of his papers. 
For although Captain Olney expressed the desire 
to have Mrs. Williams write his life, yet as he had 
already given the manuscript history of his cam- 
paigns to Mr. King, he could not recal the gift, 
and it was therefore optional with him to give or 
withhold them. 



LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 297 

The following' is an extract from a notice of his 
death which appeared in the Providence Journal : 

•' Another Hero and Patriot of the Revolution departed ! 

" The death of Capt. Stephen Olney, of North 
Providence, at the advanced period of 77 years, 
has already been announcd : but there is a debt 
of reverence and gratitude due to the nnemory of 
this gallant officer, which would be very imperfect- 
ly discharged by the brief mention of his age and 
his decease. His life and services belong to the 
history and are associated with the honor of the 
State. His name will be mentioned with a feeling* 
of just pride, whenever the acts and the men of 
the Revolution shall be recalled to the minds of 
our successors ; and at no time since the com- 
mencement of our national existence was it ever 
of greater importance than at present, to recur to 
the principles and conduct which insured the in- 
dependence of America, and to derive lessons of 
patriotism from the lives of the illustrious dead, 
who yet speak through the record of their devoted 
services, and enjoin upon us to maintain that free- 
dom and those republican institutions for which 
their blood v/as shed. 

" He was in the best and highest sense of the 
words, a Patriot and a Republican, devotedly at- 
tached to our national institutions and interests, 
for which, in his younger days, he had so often 
been ready to make the sacrifice of his life. He 
constantly toiled with his own hands, and the tes- 
timony of his untiring industry and perseverance, 
and sterling integrity, is fresh in the remembrance 
of all who knew him. To all who have ever seen 
his intelligent countenance and who have heard 
his graphic descriptions of the numerous engage- 
ments in which he participated, and his own feel- 
ings in battle, especially among the palisades, and 



298 LIFE OF STEPHEN OLNEY. 

on the parapet of Yorktown, the memory of the 
departed will be as enduring as the admiration of 
valor, and the love of country. 

" The funeral was solemnized at his late resi- 
dence, in North Providence, on Monday, 26th ul- 
timo. To the other services was added an adress 
from the Rev. Mr. Farley, of Providence, who re- 
called to the numerous assembly present, among 
whom were some of his aged brethren in arms, in 
an appropiate and impressive manner, the charac- 
ter and merits of the deceased. His remains were 
interred in the family burying ground on the es- 
tate. His name is gathered to the honored Treas- 
ury of the American Dead. And let that treasury, 
to which will so soon be added the venerable rem- 
nant of our Revolutionary Heroes, be sealed with 
the deep impress of National gratitude, and be- 
come, throughout all future generations, the con- 
secrated pledge of the Freedom and the Union of 
our Country." 



APPENDIX 



Note A. 



Many little minute circumstances in the life of 
Captain Olney, might be narrated, highly interest- 
ing, which modesty alone prevented his relating. 
Since writing his life, several have been mention- 
ed ; and one which still adds to the wonder that 
this brave man should have been overlooked in 
the promotions which followed the siege of York- 
town. The first time he met Lafayette after that 
siege, the General, apprised of the part he had 
acted, clasped him in his arms and shed tears of 
emotion. 

The wound which Captain Olney received in 
the abdomen at that siege, was so severe that he 
had to hold his bowels in by pressing both his 
hands, while giving the last orders to those in- 
trepid spirits who had followed him into the re- 
doubt. He merely mentions that " the wound was 
judged to be mortal, as a small part of the caul 
protruded." 

Daring the short time he was on the parapet a 
pistol was aimed at his head by one of the British 
close by ; which, had it discharged, must have 
caused his death, it being held close to his ear. 
A private soldier, named John Strange, whom he 
mentions in his journal, and who was the third 
that entered the redoubt, struck down the arm of 



300 APPENDIX. 

the person who held the pistol. The blow was- 
given with such force that the English soldier lost 
his arm. Strange was a drummer in Captain 
Olney's company. 



Note B. 

Colonel Daniel Hitchcock, who is so often men- 
tioned in the first part of Captain Olney's journal, 
was a very meritorious officer, and died at a time 
when his services were much needed. Captain 
Olney does not mention the time of his death, 
which occurred in Morristown, N. J. and was 
caused by peripneumony. 

The fatigue of that campaign killed him, in fact. 
The heat had been excessive, and in New-Jersey, 
the seat of constant warfare, of continual alarm, 
of horrible excesses of the enemy, the excitement 
was constant, the marchings and countermarchings 
continual, and the constitution of Col. Hitchcock 
sunk under excessive suffering and exertion. Is- 
rael Angel succeeded him, and Jeremiah Olney 
was Lieutenant-Colonel. In the early part of the 
contest, there had been a difficulty in the ex- 
change of prisoners, owing to a want of officers, 
bearing this title, in the American army; an agree- 
ment had at length been made between the con- 
tending parties, by commissioners from both, who 
met in New-Jersey ; to exchange one Major and a 
Captain, for every Lieutenant-Colonel, or two 
Captains. Congress, however, saw some difficulty 
in this, and remedied it by creating such an office 
in our army. 



Note C. 
In the Rhode-Island regiment, from the county 
of Providence, with which Stephen Olney went to 



APPENDIX. 30J 

Roxbury, there were many who then held inferi- 
or offices that afterwards obtained great celebrity 
in the country ; among many others we observe 
the name of Cyrus Talbot, the person mentioned 
in the notes to the life of Barton, who with a small 
sloop surprized and captured a British row-galley 
of 32 guns, in Seconnett river, and carried her 
safely into Stonington. This Captain Talbot ac- 
tually performed prodigies of valor during the 
war ; he was one of those persons who emphatic- 
ally make themselves, being originally, a poor ap- 
prentice boy, from Dighton, (Mass.) to Colonel 
Zephaniah Andrews, of Providence, at the stone- 
cutting business. He went to Roxbury as a Lieu- 
tenant, first, and was afterwards in Sullivan's ex- 
pedition. While in the neighborhood of Tiverton, 
he accomplished the feat mentioned above, for 
which the State of Rhode-Island voted him an 
elegant silver-hilted sword ; and Congress promo- 
ted him. On Rhode-Island, he performed a curi- 
ous feat, by riding round into a cross road, where 
were some British soldiers, tending a gun. He 
came round in such a direction, and accosted 
them in such an authoritative manner, asking them 
what they were doing, that they mistook him, as 
he meant they should, for one of their own offi- 
cers ; and telling them they were out of order, and 
their position unauthorized, he demanded their 
swords, which they, in considerable trepidation, 
immediately gave up ; so, putting the swords under 
his arm, he drove them on towards Bristol Ferry. 
They began to stare at last, when he said to them, 
'• you are prisoners — march on." " By my faith," 
said one of the trio, looking round, " I have been 
thinking so, some time." He succeeded in getting 
them safely off the island. 
The forte of Colonel Talbot, however, seemed 
26 



3l}2 APPENDIX. 

to be the sea service ; and after his feat in the 
Seconnett River, he was appointed to take com- 
mand of a sloop of war, called the Argos ; in this, 
he cruised very successfully. At that time there 
was one Stanton Hazard, a refugee tory, who was 
sailing under British colors, and robbing and mur- 
dering his own countrymen, under the name of 
loyalty ; he had often boastingly said he wished he 
could encounter Talbot ; and at length, his wish 
was accomplished ] they had a severe battle, off 
Newport, which resulted in a complete victory on 
the part of the American commander. Talbot 
took the English ship and carried her safe into 
New-Bedford, not willing to run the risk of trying 
to get her up to Providence. 

The taking of the traitor Hazard, afforded very 
general joy at that time, particularly to General 
Gates, who was then in Providence, and who 
seemed to be in extacies on the occasion. 

After this, Colonel Talbot continued to cruise 
on our waters, with much success, until the North 
River being hemmed in by the enemy, he had to 
burn his ship to prevent its falling into their hands; 
and his own escape was almost a miracle, as he 
barely escaped burning with her. A curious anec- 
dote is related of him ; in one of his cruises, being 
hailed by the commander of a British ship of war, 
and asked who the Argos was commanded by, he 
replied, '' Colonel Talbot." " What 's that?" said 
the Englishman. " It 's the first time I ever heard 
of a ship of war being commanded by a ColoneV 

After the war, Colonel Talbot commanded the 
squadron, near St. Domingo, sent to protect our 
commerce ; there, at the time of the insurrection, 
considerable American property was rescued, and 
many French families escaped to our country in 
American vessels, at that time ; about eighty per- 
sons were brought into Providence alone, nearly 



APPENDIX aC8 

all of whom were destitute, and were, by a vote 
of the council, provided with a place of residence 
in the tow^n, and rations, until they found it con- 
venient to provide lor themselves. It was a great 
satisfaction to the American people to be able to 
assist some of the French nation, after the debt of 
[gratitude we owed them. 

Colonel Talbot was at one time during the war, 
the aid of General Greene ; and his hearty co-op- 
eration with that distinguished commander, was 
thought to have been of essential service. He 
married a Miss Richmond, of Providence, sister of 
'VVilJiam Richmond Esq. for his first wife : and sub- 
sequently, a sister of Governor Mifflin, of Pennsyl- 
vania ; and settled down in New-York State, 
•where he purchased the place formerly the resi- 
dence of Sir John Johnston ; for many years before 
his death, he was a member of Congress ; and 
though not a speaker, an exceedingly useful and 
efficient member, being on all the committees on 
naval affairs. 



Note D. 

The battle of Red Bank. — It has often been ob- 
served that a very great proportion of our soldiers 
in the revolutionary war were very young. There 
is a soldier now living, a pensioner in Greenwich, 
James Miller by name, commissioned officer, who 
fought in defending that fort, who informed us that 
one third of the defenders of that fort were mere 
boys, not more than sixteen, years of age, and 
some under. 

This James Miller was the person v.^ho had com- 
mand of the small force stationed on Prudence Is- 
land, in Narragansett Bay, at the time of the de- 
scent of the British led by Wallace. He was then 



;ii}4 APPENDIX, 

only an ensign, in the regiment commanded by Col. 
William Richmond, of Little Compton. He states 
there were about fifty soldiers put there to guard 
it, collect stores, &c. and that the British who at- 
tacked it were 300. Flistory says 250 ; there was, 
he says, a very considerable quantity of hay col- 
lected, which he ordered set fire to when he saw 
the enemy approaching, supposing it a foraging 
party, he and his little band had the temerity to 
fire on them, which as he said did no good, and 
only probably provoked a return, when one of 
their company, WilliamiS by name, was shot 
through the breast, the ball passing directly un- 
der the breast bone, went in one side and came 
out the other. The monsters who took him pris- 
oner, could not be satisfied without laying his head 
open with a cutlass, and then dragged him to their 
ships. 

Night coming on. Miller and his company made 
their escape to Warwick Neck ; the enemy then 
commenced their depredations, and as the blaze of 
the burning buildings rose towering high, and 
threw its red glare over the waters of Narragan- 
sett Bay, it was seen on every side for mnv.y a 
mile around, and soldiers collected from various 
quarters. Colonel William Barton, with sixty min- 
ute men, immediately crossed over, and was the 
first who landed, at day break, and commenced 
a skirmish with the enemy. The little force un- 
der Miller immediately crossed back again, and fol- 
lowed close in their wake, and other companies in 
considerable numbers were seen coming to the 
rescue, but Barton drove them to their ships be- 
fore they got to his assistance. 

It was never ascertained how many were killed 
or wounded, but from the traces of blood it w^as 
supposed the enemy suffered some loss in their re- 
treat, pursued as they were by an incessant fire to 



APPENDIX. 305 

their ships. Very soon after on that day, 500 
American soldiers were on the island, but alas, too 
late to save the property of the suffering- and 
houseless inhabitants. The unfortunate Williams, 
notwithstanding his dreadful wounds, lived to be 
exchanged, but owing to the hacking of his skull, 
was bereft of his reason for the remainder of his 
days. 

We were not aware until since the life of Bar- 
ton was in type, that he had the honor of a skir- 
mish with Wallace, as well as Prescott. 



Note E. 

JVeiv- York.— While in possession of the enemy, 
every enormity was perpetrated that conld be 
thought of, upon the persons of those suspected 
of being friends of liberty. The most trivial ex- 
cuses served to send them off to Halifax, or im- 
mure them in some loathsome prison, or that most 
horrible of all dungeons, the Jersey. In going 
about on their lawful occasions there was no secu- 
rity whatever. The same was practiced in New- 
port, R. I. ; those who were known to be favor- 
able to the American cause, or not known io be tories, 
were persecuted with a bitterness of malice, un- 
worthy of soldiers, of any nation, watched if they 
stepped abroad, and seized on the most frivolous 
pretexts, and perhaps sent to a great distance. 
Among a great many instances of this sort, nar- 
rated too, come immediately to our recollection. 

A Mr. John Hubbard, and Eleazer Read, two 
persons who resided near the head of Broad-street, 
and were the principal proprietors of the wind- 
mills in that region ; they were in the habit of 
26* 



;jOO APPENDIX. 

procuring corn around the bay, for their mill, and 
bringing it in a little sail-boat ; of course, they 
supplied the British and all, when it was ground. 
This was done often ; but one day they were 
seized in coming over from Canonicut, an island 
just opposite the town of Newport, and then gar- 
risoned by British soldiers ; that it was impossible 
for them to have held any communication with 
the Americans there, or in crossing over, the river 
being filled with British ships ; though this was 
the pretext, both were seized and put on board 
the prison-ship in the harbor. 

The greatest consternation was manifested in 
Newport ; people found it almost hazardous to 
step out of doors. Intercession was immediately 
made for their liberation; and even by their wives. 
Mrs. Hubbard, ventured to the prison-ship herself, 
to procure the enlargement of her husband. But 
they were inexorable ; and for fear something 
might occur to compel their liberation, hurried 
them oft' the next day with a company of others, 
kidnapped, to Halifax. Before they went on shore 
these two persons had resolved to escape, or die ; 
and while the ship lay at anchor off the port, wait- 
ing for advices from shore, they contrived to es- 
cape and get over on the opposite side. By what 
means they obtained the boat by which they ef- 
fected their escape, or the particulars of their ad- 
ventures, are not now known ; but they travelled 
home on foot from the eastern extremity of the 
United States, begging their bread, until they got 
to Boston, where, being known, they borrowed 
money for the remainder of their journey. After 
this, Mr. Hubbard had his family moved to Provi- 
dence, where they remained until after the evac- 
uation of the town ; but the enemy had pulled 
down his house and made fire wood of it, and de- 
stroyed most of his property. So that from being 



APPENDIX. 307 

in very easy circumstances, he found himself, af- 
ter three years, a poor man. Eleazer Read fared 
better ; he went boldly back and took care of his 
property. 

Eleazer Read was an uncle of Captain Oliver 
Read, of Newport, and Mr. Hubbard was the per- 
son who gave a certificate on the life of Captain 
Read, and who lived to be upwards of 90 years of 



Note F. 

Washington. — Perhaps the immortal Commander 
in Chief of the French and American armies never 
appeared to greater advantage than when he 
passed over to Newport to review the French 
forces under Count Rochambeau, Gen. Wash- 
ington and his suite went over from Canonicut, 
and were received at the head of Long-wharf by 
the French officers at the head of 7000 men, who 
lined the streets from thence to the court-house. 

'' I never," says a bystander, now living, (1839,) 
"felt the solid earth tremble under me before. 
The firing from the French ships that lined the 
harbor, was tremendous ; it was one continued 
roar, and looked as though the very river was on 
fire. Washington, as you know, was a Marshal 
of France ; he could not command the French 
army without being invested with that title. He 
wore on this day the insignia of his ofiice, and was 
received with all the honors due to one in that ca- 
pacity. It is known that many of the flower of 
the French nobility were numbered in the army 
that acted in our defence." 

"Never," said the aged narrator, "will thr 
scene be erased from my memory. The attitude 
of the nobles, their deep obeisance, the lifting of 



308 APPENDIX. 

hats and caps, the waving* of standards, the sea ol 
plumes, the long line of French soldiers, and the 
general disposition of their arms, unique to us, 
separating to the right and left, the Chief, with 
Count Rochambeau on his left, unbonnetted, walk- 
ed through. The French nobles, commanders, 
and then under officers followed in the wake. 
Count Rochambeau was a small, keen looking 
man, not handsome as was his son, afterwards 
Governor of Martinico. Count Noailles looked 
like, what he was, a great man. He made a no- 
ble appearance there, as did also a Prussian Baron 
and Polish Count, officers of high standing in the 
army, who walked next. But the resplendent 
beauty of the two Yiosminels eclipsed all the rest. 
They were brothers, and one of them a General 
in the army, who bore the title of Count too. 
Newport never saw any thing so handsome as 
those two young brothers." 

" I thought," said the enthusiastic narrator, as 
the breeze of morning lifted the shining curls from 
the fair forehead of the elder Yiosminil, and dis- 
covered the sparkling eyes, and blooming cheeks, 
and wonderfully fine mouth, " that nothing could 
^surpass him, but when I looked at his brother I 
was puzzled to tell which was the handsomest. 
Both were of commanding height and well pro- 
portioned, as were very many of those who ac- 
companied them. But we the populace were the 
*only ones that looked at them, for the eye of ev- 
ery Frenchman was directed to Washington." 

"• Calm and unmoved by all the honors that sur- 
rounded him, the voice of adulation nor the din of 
battle had never disturbed the equanimity of his 
deportment. Ever dignified, he wore on this day 
the same saint-like expression that always char- 
acterized him. There were other officers of infe- 
rior grade too that followed, and I afterwards saw 



APPENDIX. y09 

ihein all on horseback, but they did not set on a 
horse like Washington, or to bring a comparison 
down to your time, like General Jackson. I must 
say of the French, I do not think horsemanship 
their fort." 

'' Well, they proceeded to the Court or State 
iiouse, and from thence to the lodgings of Count 
Rochambeau, down what is now called Spring 
street, proceeded by the " Pioneers," a company 
armed only with axes, held up straight before their 
faces, with the edge outwards. It was amusing 
to see how far these fellows would roll their eyes 
to catch a glimpse of Washington, for they dared 
as well die as turn their heads one inch." 

'^ The roofs and windows of every house in 
sight were filled with the fair part of creation, and 
oh ! the flattering of handkerchiefs and showering 
of favors ! It was a proud day for Newport !" 

A proud day indeed ! She that had sat in the 
dust for three long years — she that had been made 
bare and desolate, that had seen her fields laid 
waste, and her sons dragged into captivity — she 
that had drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of 
his fury, yea, drank the dregs of the cup of trem- 
bling, and wrung them out ! It was fitting this 
triumph should be hers. 



Note G. 
Paper Money. — The remark respecting paper mo- 
ney on page 162 must have been misplaced, and 
owing to their not being all paged in the manu- 
script, it was a work of no small moment to get 
them regulated. The paragraph in question, we 
feel convinced, must have belonged to the history 
of a later campaign, as there was no continental 
bills then in circulation, to which he must have 
referred. 



;3jO APPENDIX. 

Note H. 

Nothing has given our old soldiers more pleas- 
ure than chancing to nneet each other after the 
lapse of years ; many singular and romantic inci- 
dents of this nature have occurred at the various 
pension offices, within a few years ; one of them 
within our memory, at the office in this city, we 
cannot forbear to mention, though unfortunately 
the names are forgotten. 

An old soldier went to claim his pension, and 
in his narration mentioned he had been a prisoner 
in the guard-ship off Newport at one time, during 
the war, and that the horrors of their confinement 
and fare were such, himself with a comrade, a 
New-Hampshire man, had resolved to escape or 
die ; they combined an excuse to be brought on 
deck after dark, knock down the guard, and swim 
for the shore, about three-quarters of a mile dis- 
tant. This they effected in part, as the narrator 
actually reached it, and waited some time for his 
comrade, who however came not, and from that 
hour he never saw him, nor never expected to, as 
he was undoubtedly drowned. He went to a 
house, where his wants were supplied, and his en- 
tire escape was effected. 

Another pensioner who had listened with much 
emotion in a corner of the office, to the story of 
the Connecticut soldier, now rushed forward, and 
clasping the narrator, exclaimed " I am he, don't 
you know me?" He was soon recognised, and the 
joyful meeting was a most interesting season to 
bystanders, as well as actors. 



Note I. 
French in Rhode-Island. — Among the number of 
those whose politeness and urbanity in private 
life, and his distinguished patriotism in public, had 



APPENDIX. 31 1 

justly endeared him to the whole country, was the 
Duke D'Luzan, or as he was sometimes called, 
Chevelier. He was remarkably elegant and of 
noble presence ; and some of the ladies in Rhode- 
Island danced with him at the balls in Newport 
and Providence, and who are still living, remem- 
ber him with much interest — his companions in 
arms and in council, with still greater. His mel- 
ancholy death, after a life of such great enterprise 
in the cause of freedom in our country, was mucii 
deplored. He suffered decapitation in the revolu- 
tion in France, as the Duke D'Byron, which title 
he received on the death of his father, some years 
after quitting our shores. How many have ex- 
claimed, " Oh ! if he could but have renounced 
the dream of grandeur and continued with us !" 



Note J. 

Communications of the enemy with their government. 

It was the opinion of Captain Olney that the 
British nation in general, were kept in profound 
ignorance of the transactions of their armies on 
this side of the water ; and that when the whole 
history of the Revolution should come to be known 
in England, it would excite as much horror there 
as in any country in Europe. How far he and 
many others, who thought with him was correct, 
we have no means of knowing, but we recollect 
a circumstance that induces the belief that the 
truth was, as far as possible, kept back from the 
people, though known to the king and ministry. 
David Ramsay wrote and published the history 
of the war in South-Carolina, previous to that of 
the Revolution, giving a detail of the atrocities 
perpetrated, together with a correct history of all 
that transpired there ; and it was immediately 



:ji2 APPENDIX. 

suppressed in England, and the sale forbidden. An 
anti-ministerial paper, of that day, contained a 
very humorous piece of poetry on the occasion, 
conchiding" with the following verse : 

" Alas ! their chastisement is only begun, 
Thirteen are the States, and the tale is of one. 
When the twelve yet remaining their stories have told. 
The Kinff will run mad, and the book — 'Will be sold." 



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